Improbability
by aceofSpades44
Summary: A lot of people say that certain things can't happen. They say that the world has very set boundaries, boundaries we can't cross or break down. I used to believe that...before my disappearance. [ENDED, being remade into Equal]
1. Chapter 1:Rejected Dr Who Episode

I jumped awake as I felt something lightly flop down on my stomach. It was a magazine, specifically a National Geographic, having been thrown down on me by my older brother, Samuel, who was glaring down at me with his dark brown eyes, an open can of Sprite in his right hand.

"What?" I groaned, still half asleep. I rolled onto my side, burying my face in the back rest of the couch I was sleeping on.

"You've been sleeping there for a good two hours already." He growled, picking up his magazine. "Get up." He placed the Sprite down on the coffee table and sat down in the plush reclining armchair. I rolled onto my back again and rubbed my eyes before glancing out the living room window. The window was partially obscured by the blinds, but you could still see the snowstorm that was brewing outside despite it already being dark out. Winter...one of the joys of living in Canada, especially with the five-foot snowdrifts.

It was out there that our dad and step-mom had gone, out to run some errands, including the groceries. That left me and my brother home alone, alone to our own devices. For us that consisted of being "lazy sods" as the british would say.

I heard the pages crinkle as Sam whipped open the magazine, flipping through it as he sat there. If you looked at my dad and me you'd swear that Sam was adopted, his blonde hair and blue-green eyes were a stark contrast to our black hair and brown eyes. He got his features from mom's side of the family. Our mother, who passed away eight years ago.

It would be easy to say that because of our mom's death that I had some kind of tragic backstory. Honestly I have things good all things considered, nice house(even if the heater couldn't handle the cold being this bad), loving family, good group of friends, decent enough grades. I was happy with my life...now that I've said that, keep this in the back of your mind...it comes up later.

I rubbed the drowsiness from my eyes, the sleep leaving a slightly bitter tasting film in my mouth. Or maybe that was my not having had anything to drink in six hours by now. Whatever the case, I was damn thirsty and I needed something to drink, stat.

I got up, the cold of the wood floor seeping through my socks as I stood. I made my way groggily around the couch, still rubbing the last vestiges of sleep from my right eye as I headed for the kitchen. Reaching it I pulled the fridge open and grabbed the first soda can off the door that I saw, it was Iced Tea. I opened it and knocked back the first few gulps.

It was damn cold, and it didn't help that it was almost borderline freezing in here. I had three layers on me right now, a simple navy-blue t-shirt worn overtop a white long-sleeved shirt that read "Vancouver 2010" down the right sleeve and "Believe" written across the front. Overtop this was a zipped-up black N7 hoodie. I wore a pair of thick grey sweatpants and a pair of black socks.

In hindsight I should have probably heated up some tea, well I guess I'm stuck with this can of what felt like liquid nitrogen but tasted like regular old iced tea. Such is life I suppose.

I figured I'd head up to my room and try and curl up in a blanket and play some games on my computer while I waited for the parents to get back. Hopefully Grace'd start a fire, and then I could curl up there in front of the fireplace and read a book or something. I'd have gotten a fire going myself, but the last time I tried I wound up setting my arm on fire. Not on purpose of course, but apparently fire does not like me very much. By the way I forgot to mention that Grace is my step-mom, just wanted to clarify.

My room was fairly messy, at least that would be how it could have looked to an outside observer, I had my own way of organizing my stuff. On the right wall was my bed, big enough only for me, shoved up to the far wall. On said far wall was a single window, off to the right of my bed. It was rather large but was blocked off slightly by two guitars propped up on stands, one electric and one acoustic. On the right wall was a medium-sized dark brown Ikea desk with a built-in shelf. On it I had my laptop and a motley collection of mini-figs and models from various series, or in the case of one model, from a historic period. Built into the wall was my closet, not much else was in there other than clothes. There was the odd article of clothing strewn on the floor, or my bed, not very many people came in my room.

I sat down in front of my computer, flipping it open and browsing through my game library, searching for one that would strike my fancy. Blow up some planets in Planetary Annihlation? Nah, maybe I'll continue my playthrough of Splinter Cell. I leaned back as I watched the game boot up, taking another swig from the can of iced tea.

Something felt wrong as the main menu appeared on the screen, I could feel a presence behind me. Might have been me going crazy, except for the fact that I felt something hit me in the neck. It stung like a son of a bitch, and my left hand shot up to feel for what it was. It was small and cylindrical with a mass of thin bristles sticking out f one end. I pulled it out of my neck, it was a tranquilizer dart, my heart sank. I spun on my chair, looking back for what had stuck it in me.

There, disappearing into thin air, was a man retreating into what looked like a shimmering Stargate vortex. All I saw was his head, and it was obscured by a grey ski-mask and black goggles. He disappeared just before the gate's event horizon closed up. I went from highly concerned to downright panicking.

I turned just as the first waves of drowsiness hit me. I tried screaming for help, but when I tried all I could was moan out low a "Help". I tried to get out of my room, but stumbled and fell, barely able to grab onto the doorframe. I slid down the wall, using my shoulder to brace myself against it. My eyelids were getting heavy, I made another attempt to call out for help, all that came out was a feeble wimper. After that it was over, I fell over onto my side, finally succumbing to the fatigue slowly claiming my body.


	2. Chapter 2: Stuck in a hole kind of

The first sensation I felt was the pain, well not really pain but I felt sore as hell, like my joints had swollen and my ligaments had been cut and stitched together again and again. I was lying on my side on a hard surface, it was cool and felt like metal. Maybe that's why I was so damn sore. I could make out a faint humming noise like that of an industrial ventilation system. The smell was like that of a hospital, anti-septic, disinfectant and mild chlorine. I tried to open my eyes, they stung like hell. I tried to bite back that pain and force them open. I still couldn't see.

I lifted my hands up to my face, my arms sluggish from the drugs that were no doubt making their way out of my system. I felt my face for any sign as to why I couldn't see, I felt bandages wrapped around my head. My first thought was "Oh shit, they took my eyes!" but putting a bit of pressure over where my eyes would be located allowed me to feel the definite shape of the eyeballs underneath, yeah that hurt a bit too.

I grabbed some of the bandages and pulled on them, yanking them off my face and revealing my eyes. It was bright in here and I quickly shut my eyes against the light . It was a small four meter by four meter room which was illuminated by four fluorescent lights oriented parallel to the walls. The walls, floor and ceiling was painted white, except for a black dot in each corner on the floor of the room. There was a mirror on the wall to my right.

God damn my eyes hurt so bad! I closed them again. covering them with one hand as the other worked to remove the rest of the bandages from my head. Getting them off, I tried opening my eyes again, letting in the blinding light, though every time it seem to be reduced in intensity. I tried getting up, every muscle ached and cried out in protest as I brought my legs under me and stood up shakily.

I made my way over to the mirror to survey myself. The face of a fourteen-year-old girl stared right back. That was me. My hair shoulder length, skin mildly tan, and wearing what looked like some dystopian future prisoner's outfit. White t-shirt and white knee-length shorts, with the number 416 printed on the left arm and left leg of the outfit. A pair of black socks ended just below my knees and, if my feet weren't going apeshit, they had a mildly padded sole.

What caught my eye was, well my eyes. They looked too dark, too...black. I leaned in closer. Why the hell were they black? They were supposed to be hazel brown! And why were my eyelids all swollen and puffy? Wait a second...

"Oh shit..." I muttered, stepping back from the mirror. My voice sounded hoarse. "What've they done to me?" I knew that they at least did one thing...they took my friggin' eyes! They took them! And then they replace them with these black ones as if they thought I wouldn't notice!

Taking another quick glance around the room before stepping back until my back pressed against the wall before I slid down into a sitting position. My head was beginning to spin with all these questions. Where the hell was I? Why was I wearing this bona-fide inmates getup? WHY DID THEY TAKE MY EYES?! My eyes began to burn again as I started crying. What about my family? How were they going to react? Would they find me? Would I get to go home?

I brought my knees up and rested my chin on them, wrapping my arms around my legs and squeezing lightly. Under the brilliant fluorescent lights inside the tiny room...no, tiny CELL I was in, I felt so alone, so helpless. I wanted to get out of here, to just go home.

I was snapped from my thoughts as the wall to my right seemed to sink away before falling open. A door, i figured. Standing in the doorway was a pair of men clad in full-body grey suits, their heads covered with what looked like ski masks with the mouth covered, their eyes obscured by goggles. On top of that they wore a pair of blue camo pants and what looked like a navy blue bullet-proof vest and what looked like a metal plate tied by cloth around their necks. They carried what looked like oversized assault-rifles that were painted white. The two of them walked briskly into the cell and over to me.

"Get up." One said, leaning down and grabbing my right arm and pulling me up roughly. I tried to resist but the other one came over and did the same with my other arm. They pretty much dragged me out of the cell and out into the hall. It was much darker out here, the only lighting being blue LED lights on the ceiling, the walls themselves seemingly painted dark grey. I gave up struggling, letting them lead me on through a maze of hallways until we arrived at another door. It opened revealing another room on the other side.

This one was much like the small room I'd just been in, but scaled up to be much larger. There were a many other people inside, at least a hundred if I had to guess. They were all turning to look at me.

"Alright now get in there!" One of the guards said, before they tossed me in the room. I stumbled and fell on my face. That didn't help me feel any better let me tell you. I rolled over onto my back just in time to see the door slam shut and seal up flush with the wall of the room. Bastards. I sat up massaging my cheek where it hit the floor.

"You alright?" a voice said behind me. I spun to my right and looked up and saw a boy, about seventeen with brown hair and green eyes looking down at me.

"Uh-" I cleared my throat, trying to clear the hoarseness from it. "Yeah... kinda sore but I can manage."

"Well, dat's good den." He said, he had a bit of an accent. "You want to come sit with us?" He said hooking a thumb over his shoulder." I spotted the group of people he was referring to. Another boy and two girls. one of the girls waved.

"Sure." I said standing up, still feeling sore. He smiled, turning around and leading me back to his group. When I got close to the group one of the girls shot up.

"Hi! My name's Sherry!" She said excitedly, nearly hugging me. "What's yours?!" Man she was bubbly! Her appearance reflected it, her hair was dyed a bubblegum pink, and yes it was dyed, I could see from her roots that her hair was actually blonde. She had a wide smile and bright, blue eyes.

"Uh, Alexa..." I said, slightly nervous. Could say I was beginning to regret coming over. The first boy chuckled.

"Don't mind Sherry, she get a bit excited around new people!" He said, flashing a big toothy grin.

"I noticed." I replied.

"Awww Jarek! Don't say that!" She said pouting. Sweet Jesus this girl acted like a friggin' anime character!

"Take a seat newbie!" Said the other boy. He was black, and his hair was curled into dreadlocks, though they were loosening from a lack of care, not surprising considering our surroundings. "Name's Micheal." He said pointing at himself. "Quiet girl there is Aiko." Aiko was asian, had black hair and eyes, and her face was stuck in a frown. She didn't seem to be the most approachable person.

I sat down between Sherry and Jarek. I felt kinda out of place among this group, but I figured trying to make some friends and figure out where the hell I was would be a good idea.

"So Alexa, where're you from? You gotta tell us!" Sherry prodded.

"I'm ,uhm, from Missassauga Canada."

"Great white north, eh?" Micheal joked, putting on an unbelievably fake Canadian accent.

"Yeah..." I said, clearing my throat again. "You guys know where are?"

Jarek shrugged. "No clue...just dat every few days they bring in more people. Sometimes dey take away people but dat's rare." Damn this guy sounded Russian!

"Yeah, though the people they take away never come back again." Micheal chimed in.

"I bet they just sent them home!" Sherry said cheerfully. My guess was they didn't send 'em home.

"Don't be stupid Sherry." Aiko chimed in echoing my thoughts, although she was rather forceful about it. Sherry looked almost crushed, she sank down and slumped her shoulders, her face pouting. Okay, that's it, she's an anime character...

"Anybody know of a way we could get out of here?" I asked.

Jarek tilted his head back. "Many have tried, none have gotten out." He replied. "They have this place sealed up, no one knows what way is out, there are too many guards." He looked me in the eyes. "If we get out it will be miracle."

After that we descended into an uneasy silence, permeated only by the sounds of conversation form the other inmates. I gazed around the room trying to spot anything that looked like it might be a way out. The walls and ceiling were perfectly smooth. I sighed, I'd be spending a lot of time in here.


	3. Chapter 3: Seriously What the Hell

I don't have any idea how long I stayed in this giant aircraft hangar of a room filled with a few hundred people, maybe a few months if the length of my hair and nails was any indication. I sat alongside Jarek, Michael and Sherry. Aiko had been taken away from the room a few days ago, Sherry was still nursing a black eye from when she tried to stop the guards from taking Aiko away.

Aiko hadn't been the only one. The rate at which these guys had been bringing in and taking people out of the room had been steadily increasing over the course of my stay. At first there were maybe fifty people in small groups spaced around the room, now there were easily three hundred and the room was a constant low drone of gossip and talking.

It gave me a tight feeling in my throat when I thought about it. When would it be my new friends' turn to be taken? When would it be mine? What would happen to us outside the room? Would I ever make it back home?

I shook the thoughts from my mind, gazing at my friends and finding the same uneasiness in their faces as I felt in my gut. Even poor Sherry looked like she was about break down in a hysterical fit. I felt sorry for her despite my sharing in her situation. There was a naivety in her character, brought about by her self-admitted higher standard of living, being the daughter of the _fucking CEO of Sikorsky Helicopters_. She wasn't used to being in these situations, then again in all fairness, neither was I.

The sound of a metal bolt and of a large metal door opening forced the room to go quiet as everyone looked to the opening door. Guards entered the room, eight of them, two more blocking access to the door, and made a beeline straight for our group. One of them, stood off to my left, between me and Sherry.

"You four with us." He said gruffly. My heart hit my stomach, I looked to the others, shock and fear were the only things I saw. Sherry, wide-eyed, stared at the floor, visibly shaking. "Now." He said as the rest of the guards surrounded us.

I was the first of our group to move, grabbing Sherry and helping her up as Michael and Jarek were dragged to their feet by the guards and led away. I kept my arms on her shoulders as I followed the guards, her shaking arms wrapping themselves around her in a self-comforting hug. I wanted to try and reassure her, but what could I say? I didn't know if what I said would be an outright lie!

Led out of the room and back into the maze of hallways, we were quickly split from the Michael and Jarek, the guards taken them to the left, we were led to the right. As we were led, I kept flashing the guards looks, at first of fear of what they might do to us. But slowly I began to get angry at them. Why were they doing all of this? What purpose did this all serve? Why me? _Why us?_

They stop at a sealed door, one punching a few keystrokes into a keypad to the left of the door, which made the door slide up into the ceiling. He turned to us and hooked his thumb towards the interior of the room. "In" was the only thing he said to us.

I led Sherry inside, her shivering and shaking getting worse as the door sealed behind us. The room we were in was much like the room that I'd woken up in, if slightly larger. I sat Sherry down next to one of the walls, kneeling down so that I was looking at her face.

"I don't want to die, I don't want to die..." She kept repeating quietly in a shaky voice, tears now streaming down her face, hands squeezing her arms so tightly I began to worry that her nails would start drawing blood.

"Hey..." I said calmly, trying desperately to seem optimistic in spite of the fact that I wanted to break down and cry like her. I took her face in my hands, gently raising her gaze so that I could look her in the eyes. I made my best attempt at smiling, I don't know if I succeeded. "You're not dying here." I told her. "We're not letting it end here okay." I didn't know that for sure. "They're trying to break us, but we need to be strong okay?" I brushed some loose strands of pink hair from her face.

Sherry suddenly threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me in a hug, now bawling her eyes out. He returned the hug, rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her down. She was hysterical, the sound of her crying bouncing off the walls and making it seem like I was surrounded by a hundred crying Sherry's. I wished that there was something that I knew would work to calm her down, but considering this was a wild deviation from what I had been used to with her normally bubbly demeanor, I had no idea what to do.

We sat there, locked in a comforting hug with Sherry crying into my shoulder for longer than I'd care to guess, at least until I heard the sound of the door opening behind me, and feeling Sherry tense up. "Hey, blackie, get up." Said the guard, referring to the color of my hair, before violently grabbing me by my left shoulder.

"NO DON'T TAKE HER!" Sherry shrieked, grabbing onto me as they hoisted me up onto my feet, determined to not let go of me. The only thing she got however was a rifle butt to the face as the second guard tried to get her off me. At that point I snapped, seeing them beat one of the few friends that I had left.

"You fucks keep your hands offa her!" I yelled at them, straining against my captor as I watched the other guard deliver another rifle butt to Sherry's face, forcing her onto the floor. The guy holding onto my arm has a grip like a vice, and the upper body strength of a gorilla, dragging me out of the room with barely any effort.

Sherry screamed my name as the second guard delivered a swift kick to her stomach as she lay on the ground, protectively rolling herself into a ball. I had to get back to her. That was all that mattered right now. That we stuck together through this. I whirled around and tried to punch the guard holding onto my arm in the jaw, I had to jump up to actually reach considering this guy was, what? Six foot fucking four?

He leaned out of the way at the last second with a speed I didn't think possible, while simultaneously planting his knee into my stomach. The strike Knocked the wind from my lungs and forced bile up from my stomach, some of it forcing itself out my mouth. My knees buckled and I sat there, coughing the last of the bile out and onto the floor.

The next thing I felt was something hard and heavy hitting me across the face, forcing me onto my side. When my vision recovered from the blow I could see blood, a small amount, spattered on the floor, and the feeling of something dripping down my right cheek. Dazed as I was I couldn't fight back when they lifted me up over their shoulder and carried me to wherever it was they wanted me to go.

Next thing I knew I was strapped into a chair, barely able to concentrate enough to fight the binds. The two guards were speaking to another man, this guy was decked out in full surgeons gear, with the exception of a white lab coat. "You damaged...est...ubject." Was all my ears could make out in my state of half-consciousness.

"Sh...end resisted."

"Fine...we...begin with _Chakra Infusion_." At that I felt my hear hit my stomach for the second time today. In my mind the slew of subtle hints and clues the universe was throwing my way all fell into place. The guards' ridiculous uniforms, the flak jacket looking things, _the fucking HEADBANDS tied around their necks_. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

No way...it couldn't be. It seriously couldn't be possible that I wound up here! This world didn't even exist!

I wanted to scream. I wanted to break down. I just wanted this to all be a dream. I wanted it to be me waking up in a hospital bed after a long coma from a car crash. I don't give a fuck if it meant a long recovery with physiotherapy and long-lasting cognitive problems, at least I had the option of being home! Please just let that be the case...please.

I strained against the straps binding my arms and legs to the chair as a device descended from the ceiling. It looked like a type of Tesla coil, though the ball on the end seemed to be made of copper or bronze and was painted with what looked like a Japanese symbol inside of a ragged circle with similarly ragged lines radiating outward from that circle. Looked like a sealing tag if I was where I thought I was.

The machine began to glow a bright blue, energy shooting out the tip and onto my stomach. That's when I started screaming.

It hurt so much I couldn't stop myself from screaming in pain. It felt like someone was carving something into my stomach with a red hot knife...or an acetylene welding torch. The pain seemed to permeate throughout my body, reaching everywhere from my head to my fingers and toes. It kept growing in intensity, and my it looked almost like a black curtain was closing over my eyes until I lost consciousness.


	4. Chapter 4: The Grand Escape

The first thing I felt was the cold.

It was biting at my skin, and was the only thing really telling me I was still alive. At least I thought that I was still among the living.

Though a familiar burning sensation eventually began creeping into my arms and legs when I started moving ever so slightly, straining against the stiffness in my bones. I could feel something lying under me, like a bunch of branches piled under my body. But they felt strange, they felt _squishy._

I opened my eyes slowly, what greeted me was the sight of an overcast day, framed by the canopy of sparse, leafless trees covered in a thin layer of snow. Snowflakes fell down gently from the sky, some landing on my face. Well that explains why It felt so cold. I sat up, groaning against the protests of my muscles that still felt like lying down wherever I was. That's about when I saw _it._

A foot.

Slightly blue and sticking half buried out of the snow. I felt a tightness in my chest as I slowly looked around, noticing how there was a small wall of earth surrounding me topped by snow and shaggy bits of grass.

Correction. _Surrounding us._

What I saw chilled me to the core more efficiently than the ice cold air ever could. It looked up at me with brown eyes glazed over, glassy and unseeing. It's skin turning blue from the cold, lips parted enough that I could see the near unnoticeable white of teeth. Pink hair framed what portions of it were visible, falling delicately over its features. Sherry was lying there, dead in the snow.

Last I'd seen her, she'd been screaming, crying out for me, for us to stay together through the ordeal. Now she was gone, a corpse, the once dense, bubbly girl we'd all rolled our eyes at over the two months that'd we'd been stuck in that metal box of a room was now dead, along with all the other people thrown into this pit.

Wait a minute. I looked down to where I'd been lying not a moment before. A torso, this one of a boy, tan skinned, face obscured by snow just above his nose, revealing only his mouth, half open and missing a couple teeth. My heart was now pounding in my chest so hard I thought it was going to burst out and fly away on its own as I sat there motionless, frozen from the thought that managed to eat its way into my mind. _I was in a mass grave_.

I let out a small scream, more in disgust and panic, quickly jolting up and whirling around to grab at the wall of the small pit. My left foot slipped on something and I let out another yelp as I sunk through the layer of interwoven limbs until my for touched something that felt like someone's face.

My hands grasped at the snow and grass at the rim of the pit, clawing frantically as I tried to pull myself out. Finally managing to find a grip I pulled myself up as hard as I could, ignoring the burning sensation in my arms. Next thing I knew I was out of the pit, and frantically crawling away through the snow, unable to get myself to stop long enough to actually get my footing.

When I finally got far enough away for me to consider myself "out" of the hole, I quickly rolled over, sitting with my elbows propping me up ever so lightly. I could barely see where the hole was, the only indicators of its existence being the grassy line that marked the opposite side, and the trail of disturbed snow that showed where I had crawled away.

I sat there, breathing to heavily I thought I might start hyperventilating and my heart pounding in my chest. My mind was racing, wondering how in the hell I'd wound up in a _FUCKING MASS GRAVE!_ Wondering why every one of my limbs had a burning sensation. Oh yeah, there was that Tesla coil they zapped me with. I took a second to look over my arms. No burns that I could see. Legs? Same thing.

I got up, making doubly sure to _not_ look into the pit full of dead bodies. The burning feeling had gotten worse, walking away it felt like somebody was pressing a red-hot branding iron into my joints, pushing harder with ever step. It didn't help any that I was trudging through ankle deep snow while wearing nothing but socks. My toes were frozen stiff, I needed to find someplace warm and I needed to find it ten minutes ago.

The trees here were strange, as if they'd been planted here in an orderly fashion instead of sprouting naturally. The area was rocky and seemed slightly mountainous. There were few bushes around, well there were the odd scraggly ones but for the most part there are only trees. At least the trees gave me protection to the wind by being there though, but it was still very cold.

I didn't get very far before I heard voices, two of them, male, and if my ears weren't messed up, far away. I froze for a half second, trying to pinpoint where they were, ears alert as they've ever been. They were behind me, probably a type of patrol...and from the sounds of it they were getting steadily closer to where I was. I had only one thought.

_Run._

I bolted, ignoring the pain screaming from my legs. I had to get away from here, I didn't care where I went I just needed to get away.

I was less running and more 'controllably stumbling forwards over a long distance', my legs screaming at me the entire time and making it harder to move forward. The snow also seemed to getting progressively deeper, I was now dragging my legs through knee deep snow. I kept pushing myself, trudging through the white powder that seemed dead set on keeping me anchored firmly in place.

Then came the sound I'd been dreading.

"Hey, I see footprints here!" One of the voices called out.

My heart jumped in my chest, and I picked up my pace. Trying to run as frantically as I was, I never seemed to notice the cliff.

Yes cliff.

As in a sheer drop to a rocky death.

I let out a sharp squeal of surprise as I went over the edge.

Twenty feet straight down into a snowdrift. Let me tell you, snow isn't as soft as movies make it out to be no matter how powdery it is. It felt like slamming into a concrete pad upon impact, it was _after_ that the 'cushion-y cloud felling' took over and you found yourself half buried in snow.

Considering the fact that the clothes I were wearing would make a kid in Ethiopia feel cold on a hot summers day doesn't exactly make that an enjoyable experience.

I quickly dug myself out and kept running, tripping over my own feet the whole way I went. I'd landed in a ravine at the base of the cliff, and I had to fight my way up the opposite bank, here the snow was hip deep most of the way up.

Once I got up to the top the snow became a much more manageable and I was once again in the trees. Once I got the top was when they actually spotted me.

The whizzing noise was my first indication of that fact, and I ducked instinctively. I heard the 'thunk' of something sharp embedding itself into wood. Looking up I saw a large black, diamond shaped knife jammed halfway into the trunk of the tree a mere foot from where I was standing.

A Kunai. These guys meant to straight up kill me.

I ran forward past the tree, grabbing the knife and wrenching it out with right hand.

I heard the whizzing noise again and I spun to look behind me.

In hindsight, huge mistake.

I saw it buzz in straight and true, and clip my left shoulder. The shock of both the pain and impact made me lose my balance, falling backwards into the snow, my right hand, still clutching at the kunai I'd dug out of the tree, quickly went to the wound.

Within seconds the guy who threw the knife was on me in about a half a second, charging at me kunai drawn in his right hand and ready to bring it crashing down on my skull. Instinctively my lfet hand went up and grabbed his wrist, while my right stabbed upwards. It caught him in right about where his sternum would be. He became rigid in shock and I kicked him off before taking off running in the opposite direction, kunai still in hand.

Emerging from the tree line and into a snowy field a short distance away from my first attacker I heard another whizzing sound. This time I heard it too late.

I felt a sharp pain in between my spinal column and shoulder blade as the third kunai went in. I screamed in pain and dropped to my knees. I felt the weight of my attacker hit me in the back like a charging rhino as he grabbed the kunai on my pack and began twisting it ever so slightly. I cried out again.

"You damned brat! You killed my partner!" He Yelled at me, almost forcing me to kiss the dirt by shoving me forward. It took every ounce of my strength to keep that from happening, pushing up with my arms for all their worth.

He used the kunai, literally as a handle for him to pull me back up into a kneeling position, before wrenching it out of my back. "For that you'll pay!" He said. I knew what was coming next, and I didn't want it. I jumped up and backwards, pushing my back into his gut, while jamming the kunai in my hand into his gut.

He dropped his kunai and I took a few frantic steps forward. Turning on my heels I saw him standing there, hand hovering inches from where I stabbed him. Blood came pooling out from this navy-blue flak jacket. His eyes unlike his partner weren't obscured by goggles, I could see his eyes, green and narrowed, which had a look of...acceptance in them.

"You damn bitch..."

He collapsed to his knees, then tipped forward and fell face down into the snow.

I stared blankly at him for a second, breathing heavily and my right arm throbbing, not really sure what had just happened.

_Get moving. _A far-off voice in my head commanded. _Find a place to bunker down._

I did what it asked, dropping the kunai that had carried me through it and set off across the snowy clearing. With every step pain shot through my arm and I had to use my good one as a makeshift brace to hold it in place, never mind the fact that I was bleed from my shoulder and probably profusely from my back.

Eventually I came to a road, bordered on either side by trees and underbrush, at least it looked like it was naturally grown. The fact that the road had foot and tire prints in it meant that it was being used, by who was anyone's guess, probably merchants. I turned right, heading down the road, trying to get away from wherever it was I had been held for two months, and the ninja's that seemed to be running the place.

I don't really know how long it was that I walked, my mind blank from everything that had just happened and blood loss. The only thing I paid attention to was the cold and how the wind blew along the road, whipping snow into my face.

I must have walked for miles because when I finally found something by the side of the road, the sun was beginning to go down. It was a small shack, someone's house probably, or it was somebody's house at one time, it look abandoned enough now. This was corroborated when I walked up to it and leaned my head against the door, the weight being enough to push the door open and for me to lose my balance and collapse onto my knees, managing to catch myself before my face slammed into the floorboards with my relatively undamaged arm.

I crawled inside the roadside house, kicking the door shut with my foot and taking in the relative warmth of the room. It was small enough, almost like one of those hunting cabins that you see on wilderness shows on the History Channel, though with definite Japanese stylings. In front of the door there looked to be a utilities cabinet closed off by a set of wooden doors. Inside there was a small flat table with cushions around it and a cot that had long since lost its sheets, leaving the small metal frame and mattress lying bare.

Above the cot were a set of clothes hooks, one of which held a large blue jacket. It looked rather old and threadbare, but it was also probably a damn sight warmer than what I had on right now despite the Japanese styling making it look less so. Across from the cot was a wood burning stove with a pile of small logs and on the floor next to that was a small box of matches. Whoever had been here last had left in a hurry, though at this point I didn't care much for the reason.

I quickly got up and grabbed the coat off the hooks, letting loose a cloud of dust, causing me to sneeze. Damn good thing I don't have allergies or tonight would be murder in here. I pulled the coat around my shoulders, thankful for the protection it gave to my bare arms. Grabbing the matches off the ground I sat in down in front of the furnace, opening the front and tossing in a couple of logs before striking a match and tossing it in. After a few seconds of waiting I had a bit of a fire going and boy did it feel good.

I finally realized how truly exhausted I was, having fought and walked all afternoon after waking up in that-place-that-must-not-be-named. I crawled onto the cot, curling up into a ball as best as I could so I could keep my feet warm. Snuggling into the cot it felt rigid and lumpy, I didn't really care, it was the first mattress I've slept on in months instead of cold metal. The gentle snapping and cracking of the fire help lull me into drowsiness and I began to nod off.

Lying there, curled up under some person's forgotten jacket I came to the realization that I was out, through coincidence and pure dumb luck I'd made it out, I was free. I couldn't suppress a chuckle as I pulled the coat up over my shoulders, letting the very fact that I'd done all that and lived to potentially tell about it later grant me satisfaction. It was only in the split second that before I finally fell asleep that I remembered seeing Sherry's frozen face sticking out of the snow...

_I had been the only one to make it out._


	5. Chapter 5: Roadstop

The chirping of birds outside was what woke me up, my eyes slowly dragging themselves open as I slipped back into the land of the living.

Despite the pain from the cut on my shoulder and the stab wound in my back, that was the best sleep I'd had in months. I'd slept like a rock through the night, not even bothering to get up to add wood to the fire when it went out. Or at least considering that even the embers had since died out inside the small stove, I figured it had gone out halfway through the night. Surprisingly enough the abandoned looking shack had retained a lot more heat than I'd thought.

I sat up, wincing and hissing when pain shot down my left arm from the wound on my back. I shoved my hand down the back of my shirt to feel for the wound. My fingers felt for the biggest scab I've ever had in my life, something like that typically needed stitches to hold it closed to allow it to heal. _Somehow_ I'd circumvented that necessity.

Lucky me.

No seriously I meant that.

I've never needed stitches before, and the thought of needing them never really appealed to me.

It was still going to scar though.

I pushed myself off the cot, wrapping the old coat around myself. I mean sure it was warmer than it would be outside, but it was still cold as balls. "Good morning to the World of Naruto." I muttered to myself.

Y'know, all things considered I was taking the news that I'd be transported to a fictional world that, based on logic and all semblance of realism, should not exist. I dunno maybe it was that part of me didn't fully believe it, and admittedly I could've just been kidnapped by a bunch of psychos who'd modeled their image off of the series because of their delusions of being actual ninjas.

In all honesty that was just as likely, if not more so, than my being shoved through a god damn portal to another universe.

Or maybe it was my having _woken up on a pile of dead bodies not twenty-four hours ago!_ No I'm not getting over that any time soon! Jesus, I'm gonna have nightmares for a full year after all of this blows over.

First off, although I'm not quite sure as to what the fuck was going on in all honesty, I should at least come up with a plan to keep myself alive. Namely, to get the actual fuck out of dodge lest those psycho ninja's come looking for me. The fact that I wasn't waking up to them smashing in the front door and dragging me out probably means that they haven't found their dead buddies yet.

In order to do that, I needed to be able to walk around outside while not freezing to death or drawing any attention. Which meant a chance of clothes, also proper shoes...that would help immensely. I figured a good place to start on that front would be raiding that supply closet. I mean yeah sure I did find that coat, and that was lucky enough as it was, but it never hurts to check it out to be sure.

I opened the doors with my left arm, because it was the only one that didn't hurt like hell if I moved it even half of an inch. Inside I found clothes hanging off the left and back walls of the closet on hooks, both shirts, pants, leggings, and coats that looked in much better shape than the one I had on now, and some of the articles looked like they could keep me warm enough seemed sufficiently thick enough to shield me from the cold.

On the floor was a pair of blue shoes, scratch that, they were ninja sandals that had some kind of special attachment that slipped over top of them that made them more akin to boots. On the right wall was various types of hunting equipment, not that I knew how to use any of it, though there was what looked like a hunting knife in a sheathe hanging on the wall and a small bag hanging just next to it. Could use that knife to defend myself in case things get a little hairy at least, and that bag could bring along a change of clothes.

At this point I was only thankful that whoever had lived here had cleared out quickly enough to leave their shit behind, and yes I know it's technically still stealing but it's not like I realistically had the option of go on my merry way without some supplies.

I quickly picked out the things I thought I would need to walk outside without freezing to death. A dark blue jacket with a hood, a white t-shirt with a red diamond printed on the front, a pair of sandy brown pants and set of black leggings.

Getting changed I noticed how much blood i'd lost since my run-in with those two ninja earlier. Now of course my arm hadn't bled that much, a little bit of the sleeve had been stained crimson, but my back had let out a considerable amount. The entirety of the back was soaked and hardened from the amount of blood that was there, and even a little had managed to leak onto the shorts. No wonder I felt drowsy right now, I was still struggling from blood loss.

The new clothes didn't quite fit right, obviously made for someone a bit bigger than I was, but they were good enough to get me going. I pulled the bag and knife off the wall and discovered that the bag had a few medical supplies inside. Bandages, disinfectant, even a needle and surgical thread. Yeah, to reiterate, not a fan of stitches. Though it also had something else tucked in one of the outside pockets, money. After today I'll never go into gambling, I've probably used up all of my luck reserves.

I shoved what articles of clothing I could fit into the bag, it wasn't much but it was a good back up just in case. Looking at it now that bag was like if somebody had sewn a small messenger bag onto a fanny pack. I wrapped the bag around my waist, letting the bag rest in my lower back, and tied the knife to the straps, before I reached into the closet one last time and pulled out a nice looking navy blue coat with black borders around the sleeves, neck, and hem. It was long enough to reach down to my knees and was made of a very thick material.

I pulled it over my shoulders, resisting the urge to drop it when the action sent pain through my shoulder. Man this was going to be an ordeal until my arm healed up enough where I could move it without grunting and hissing every time. In last bit of preparation I grabbed the box of matches off the floor and slipped them into the bag, never know when you might need to start a fire.

I left the house, immediately getting slapped in the face by the cold. Man I wish whoever had lived here had left behind a scarf or something? Or sunglasses. The sun was out and it turned the snow into a gigantic mirror, reflecting the sunlight right into my eyes. Squinting I checked the road, my eyes scanning left and right as I tried to get my bearings. It must have snowed a lot last considering the snow in now near my ankles on the road, and I distinctly remember it being only a light dusting yesterday afternoon as I was walking, or maybe it was the blood loss screwing with my brain? I had no clue.

Getting my bearings I turned left and continued down the road. Turning right would've taken me back to where I had come from and I do _not_ feel like going anywhere near there for the foreseeable future.

Walking on its own was difficult, I found myself getting tired long before I realistically should and had to take periodic stops to let myself rest. Looks like I was in worse shape than I thought, and considering what I'd been through that little tidbit shouldn't be too surprising.

Even if my body needed a break every once in a while, my mind was another matter. Thinking about my current situation, I realized I had very little information to actually go on here. I didn't actually know where I was, honestly I was still kinda holding out on the thought that I was not where I thought I was. I needed to be able to find evidence to confirm or deny that scary thought.

What I would need to come to a conclusion, I have no idea, but I had no doubt I would know it when I saw it.

Though at the same time it would be a good idea to come up with contingency plans just in case that I was stuck in a parallel universe with fucking magical ninjas.

Contingency Number One, an alias, a new name for myself to avoid suspicion. I don't know about you but I don't think I've ever heard a character get called a name along the line of "Alexa Proulx" before. I needed a name to call myself. Right now all I could think of was the name of my old Naruto OC, Hiromi Mizu. Yeah, if I remembered the meaning right, that wasn't pretentious at all.

Well it was better than introducing myself by a name that nobody has ever heard before, so there was that going for it. Speaking of...what if nobody here spoke english..? Shit I hadn't thought of that before. I didn't know Japanese at all. The most I knew were a few little bits a piece I managed to pick up, and things I got off of Google Translate.

Although thinking back to yesterday, I remember the two shinobi that attacked my has spoken perfect English. No accent or anything. Which meant that they either learned young, or that was their maiden language.

For now I decided that my priority would be to figure out if I could actually communicate with anybody, that chances of which seemed fairly good, and to figure out where the hell I actually was. I mentally prepared myself for the worst as I crested a hill. Phase one is underway, Phase two would be planned when I got enough intel.

The hill overlooked a small village, houses billowing smoke as they burned firewood, their roofs covered in snow. Within the village's streets I could see the forms of people walking about, going on with their daily business. Seemed active enough, I should be able to find out what I need to know there.

My stomach suddenly growled, breaking me from my thoughts. Well considering I haven't eaten in half a day It was no wonder I was getting hungry. Okay so Phase One now included getting food, at least I'd found money.

Inside the village it was the weirdest experience I've ever actually had. That strange part is that nothing that one would consider weird actually happened. I guess what I meant to say was it was surreal. Everybody here was glaringly Caucasian, like _glaringly_. These people were borderline Scandinavian in terms of skin color!

They wore what looked like some pseudo-Japanese styled clothes, like they were a weird mix of both Japanese and Western styles. Some people even had wild hair colors, and while that's not exactly outside the norm back home, combined with everything else it made everything seem just...strange.

Well that was another point in the 'I'm in the Naruto World' column. Fucking yay.

Say what you will about my lack of excitement, I sincerely doubt this place is anything like it's portrayal in the show.

The streets were surprisingly buzzing with activity. People ducking in and out of shops, marked in Japanese. Okay so things were written in Japanese, fun times will be had with that since I can read Japanese just about as well as I could speak it.

There were a few street vendors hanging around, most of them selling various souvenirs and nick-nacks, though some steamed with freshly cooked hot food. I almost jogged up to the nearest one.

"Hi there!" The woman behind the stall greeted me, giving me a friendly smile. "What can I get you today?" I took a quick glance at what she was selling, my eyes zeroing in on what looked like grilled chicken cutlets on a stick which was then sprinkled with spices. Sure she had other things in there but chicken was my favorite kind of meat and I was really hungry right now.

"I'll take two of those, please." I said, pointing to the chicken-kebabs on the grill.

"That'll be twenty-five Ryo." She said. My first inclination was to gasp at the apparent cost of chicken being 25 dollars here. Until I realized the currency was different and was probably based in part on the Yen, because, you know, Japan.

"Just a sec." I said reaching into one of the pockets of the bag and pulling out a small wad of bills. Sure enough the money was _not _ printed in Japanese but in _English!_ Okay so it was only the numbers written in English but that God for that because I would've been screwed otherwise.

I handed her a bill marked with 25. She took it with a smile and thanked me. "Your order will be done shortly, I just have to grill them a bit more first." She said, and I nodded in understanding.

We stood in silence for a few brief seconds until I decided to break the silence, hoping to maybe get a bit of information out of her if I could. "Kinda cold today isn't it?" I said, adding a hint of sarcasm to it to make it seem like I was kidding. She let out a small chuckle as she prepared some foods to cook later, I couldn't see what she was making though.

"I suppose it is." She said, smiling brightly. "Though the Land of Frost is always cold this time of year." I did my best to keep my smile up when my heart sank. Well that seems like that would be confirmation enough as to my location. Fuckberries. "You from the Land of Lightning?" She asked.

"Yeah." I lied, nodding slightly.

"What brings you out here?" Was her next question.

"Just passing though." I said. "I guess you could call me a tourist, I want to see what else is out there." The first part was true, though the next part, not so much. I honestly was surprising myself with how good at lying I was being right now.

"What possessed you to do that." She asked, raising an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "I dunno seemed like fun." I paused, I had just thought of something. "Though I've kinda gotten a bit lost. Could you tell me how to get to Konoha from here?"

"Konoha?" She said. "Why would you want to go there?"

"To see the Hokage mountains." I replied quickly. I'm apparently on a roll.

"Okay, uh, just follow the road straight until you get to Getouei Village, you take a right at the village center and it should take you pretty much straight to the front door." She explained while gathering together my order and handing it to me. "Here you go."

"Thank you very much. " I said grabbing the two sticks when she handed them over to me before I turned to continue down the road.

"You mind if I ask your name?" She asked. I froze. Shit what was my name again? Yeah I know it's Alexa but what was my _alias?_ Quick, Alex think of something...

" Mako Mori." I replied simply. _MAKO MORI?! THAT CHICK WHO WAS THE PARTNER/GIRLFRIEND OF THAT ONE DUDE FROM PACIFIC RIM?! REALLY FUCKING SMOOTH THERE BRAIN!_

"Well, take care of yourself Mako." She said, giving me a little wave, before turning back to her stall. I flashed her a quick smile before turning around and continuing on my way, munching on the barbecued chicken-kebab, yes I know that's not what its name was, but it's what I'm calling it. It was delicious honestly, though that might be my hunger talking.

Well I was probably in the World of Naruto now. Fantastic. So that meant that I was going to have a helluva time getting back home...if I ever got back. I wonder how my family had been taking my disappearance? They were probably searching frantically for me...or my body.

No Alex, don't think like that. I shook my head to clear my thoughts as I reached the outskirts of the village. Maybe I should set on an actual alias, one that would be easy to remember for me in a pinch.

Akane Mori. That's going to be it. It has the first letter of my actual name which might make it easier for me to remember, and well it seemed like Mori was going to be stuck in my head for a while so I might as well roll with it.

Now I needed to figure out when the hell in the Universe I'd dropped in. If I dropped in during some point in the established canon, I could potentially use my foreknowledge of the universe to my advantage...

Aw who was I kidding? Sure my foreknowledge could be useful if I had the skills. Guess what I didn't have right now? The skills. That's why I was heading to Konoha, to hopefully figure out when I was based on the Hokage monument, and to hopefully see if somebody could teach me some basic ninja skills at least. At least that was my plan. I'm not entirely sure it wound up going exactly as smoothly as I'd planned...


	6. Chapter 6: Broken Will

The first few weeks things went downhill fast.

The immediate problem was that I couldn't sleep, or not for very long anyway. I grew paranoid that they were following me, trying to track me down as I'm sure that they _had_ to have found the bodies of the two guys I killed. That was one of the reasons I stopped sleeping, I was too scared to close my eyes for more than ten seconds.

The second came back to the dead people that I'd seen, both the pit and the two guys I'd wound up killing. The nightmares were terrifying, the only one that comes to mind was the one where I was stuck back in the pit and those poor souls tossed inside started moving, grabbing and clawing at me as they pulled me down like demonic zombies into the bottomless chasm that _somehow_ opened up beneath me.

The last reason was how tough it was to find a comfortable spot to sleep. I didn't have enough money to realistically blow on staying a night at a hotel, which I'd painfully (don't take that literally) found out on the first night. I found myself curling up into or under whatever shelters I could find, and with my stab wound that was still healing it hurt like a bitch to sleep.

I wound up sleeping maybe an hour to an hour and a half if I was lucky.

As a result I was exhausted on a day to day basis, my legs feeling like they were encased in concrete and there was still that slight stinging sensation in my arms and legs when I moved. Walking was not fun and I wound up taking frequent breaks to rest.

Which brings me back to the paranoia bit. There was really no resting when I took breaks. Breaks were spent looking over my shoulder and up into trees to try and spot anyone tailing me before they got the jump on me.

I probably looked as bad as I felt, which as you might imagine is nothing but pain.

I was walking along a relatively well travelled dirt road, the snow had begun to get less prevalent as I travelled further southward. It was getting dark out, the sun had set and the last of its glow was fading behind the horizon. I didn't really bother looking for a spot to bunker down because I really couldn't sleep anymore, so there was really no point.

Maybe I should really have tried to get some sleep as I might have noticed the people sneaking up on me from the side of a road.

I nearly ran into a six-foot-five brick shit-house of a man with a big ass katana resting on his shoulder, actually that would make it a no-dachi. "Where you going little girl?" He said with a voice just as deep as his biceps were big.

A spear was thrust out in front of me threatening me from the left. Following it back I saw another man, this guy smaller wielding the eight foot pole with one hand. "Looks like she's going between towns!" He said with a smirk. "Why's a cute little young lady such as y'self going about this here road so late at night?"

"She's probably got an old grandma she going to see." Said another man, this one with two katana strapped to his waist and looking way to much like a woman despite the betrayal of his voice. "Too bad for her, though, she's at the wrong place at the wrong time."

I was pretty much fucked as of now. I mean I could quickly reach the knife on my waist on the inside of my coat with my injured hand since it was held inside the coat, but these guys were packing the ninja world's equivalent to fucking pistols and machineguns. I had a fucking airsoft gun by comparison.

"Alright, hand over your valuables unless you wanna lose your head." Said the effeminate guy. I said nothing as I looked between them, slowly moving my hand down to grip the knife. I wasn't willing to abandon my meager supplies to a bunch of thugs as losing it would basically spell my doom.

A cursory glance around gave me my way out. There were only three of them, one in front and one to either side, but no one behind. Jackpot.

I turned and bolted. There were yells of surprise behind me and I the woosh of a sword slicing mere inches behind my head, and I could feel it brush my hair. I pushed my legs as hard as I could, willing the returning burning sensation to die away as I heard their footsteps thundering behind me.

I dared a glance behind me and saw them on my heels, getting closer every step. I wasn't going to outrun them. The forest on either side of the road was very dense and filled with underbrush, I was smaller than all of them. I would be able to get through it easier than they could. I turned to the right and headed into the bush.

Branches snapped past my face and snow crunched under my feet as I ran, the three bandits yelling after me as they struggled through the underbrush. I was getting some distance between myself and two of them, but one managed to stay on my tail.

The effeminate guy with the _twin fucking katanas_.

I tried to bob and weave around trees and bushes hoping to get the guy to slip up and trip or something that would slow him down enough for me to get away.

It didn't work. At all.

He bypassed my bobbing and weaving and in a display of ninja like speed, ran around me to block my path. I stumbled to a stop as he stood there, hands resting on his sword, ready to draw it like a fucking samurai to slice my head off. In that moment I knew I was way out of my league with this guy.

"Nowhere to go little girl." He said, before slowly drawing is sword menacingly, holding it up in front of his face to make sure I saw it. "Shoulda just cooperated, you'd have lived then." I backed up slightly, switching the knife to my good hand.

If I was going down I was gonna go down swinging. He charged me, both hands gripping the katana and raising it over his head to bring it down on my head. I quickly raised my knife to block it as I fell over onto my back as his strike connected, his strength knocking me over.

My head hit a fallen tree behind me, temporarily dazing me and giving him just enough of an opening for him to knock the knife from my hands and toss it away into the snow. He pulled the sword up and over his head to bring it down on me again. "End of the road kid!" He said, a blood thirsty grin plastering his face.

When in doubt, go for the balls.

Katana man dropped to his knees, hands clutching at his groin as my foot connected. He dropped his katana in pain.

I grabbed it and ran. I don't think he noticed.

I once again bobbed and weaved as I ran around trees and branches. I could hear the other two bandits still chasing me through the bush, taking a slight pause to check on their fallen teammate.

"GET AFTER HER YOU TWITS!" I could hear him scream at the other two. The chase resumed and I pushed my legs to their breaking point, hoping to outrun the other two, I knew they couldn't keep up with me in the bush. But my fatigue was already taking its toll on my body, and I could barely keep my distance from the two of them.

Worse yet, I could hear the swift steps of katana man again chasing after me. I knew I couldn't hope to take him in a stand-up fight, even if I did have the same weapon, he was obviously much more skilled and physically stronger than I was being obviously older than me. Even if I could take him in a fight, his two lackeys weren't far behind and they'd tip the battle in his favor anyway. I couldn't outrun him, I don't think I could actually outrun his two dumb idiots for much longer anyway. For all intents and purposes, I was effectively dead.

Then, materializing out of the tree line, my salvation. A fast flowing river about ten feet across, resting twenty feet below in a riverbed with sides sloped at between 50-60 degrees. This was the second time in the last few days where I was facing an effective straight drop down.

I turned for it, hoping to cross the river and get away. At the edge before the steep slope, I heard a sword being drawn. I spun on my heels, raising the sword I'd taken to defend. Metal clashed on metal, and I fell backwards down the slope.

Tumbling over and over down the slope, I only caught glimpses of Katana man running down the slope after me. My wounded shoulder caught a rock on the way down, I felt the wound reopen and I cried out in pain. I clutched at the sword, knowing that I'd need it once I got to the bottom.

Next thing I knew, I was submerged in water. The river was a lot deeper than I thought, and it had no shores, rather it dropped immediately into a deep, fast-flowing, and rapid laden river. The water was chillingly cold, and quickly soaked my heavy clothes through, which dragged me down below the churning waters.

My body and limbs slammed into rounded rocks as I flailed wildly trying to keep my head above the water. I spat and sputtered, trying to get enough air to keep myself going. I had no idea if the bandits were on my tail, following me down the river, but it's not like I had the option of thinking about it.

At some point, the heavy coat I'd been wearing slipped off my shoulders and I surged to the surface. With that I could essentially float with my legs stretched out in front of me to defend against rocks and to keep my head above the water.

I don't really know how long it was until the river mellowed out and widened, getting more shallow as it went. I eventually wound up on the shore, crawling up the bank, freezing and soaked to the bone, still clutching at the katana.

I needed to find shelter or I'd freeze to death. I wrapped my arms around myself, shivering against the cold bonded to my bones. I soon found a rather large fallen tree, below it was a half covered space, an effective burrow. I scurried underneath and curled up hoping to get myself warm. I quickly pulled out the matches and scraped together dead pine branches and bark to make a small fire.

I started rooting through the bag, looking through the supplies I had to see how much damage the river had done. The paper money I had was ruined, which was most of it, and my medical supplies had fallen out of the bag and been swept away by the river or was still resting on the ground in the forest.

I now had absolutely nothing to go with. Phase 1 of my plan was effectively derailed. I began panicking, if I had no more money, how was I going to get food? I couldn't steal, I would be sure to get caught! I had no adequate protection from the weather, which meant I was going to freeze.

I didn't want to die here like this.

I hugged the hilt of the katana close to my chest, wrapped in red cloth padding and lacking a hand guard, letting the tip of the blade dig into the ground with the edge pointing outwards as I curled up around the sword.

I cried. I was terrified for myself, I was so tired in every facet of the word. I just wanted to go home, back to the life I knew, to see my family again, to see my friends and my school and to go to all the usual hangouts.

"I can't do this..." I murmured to myself between sobs. "I can't do this anymore..."

This world had been breaking me down from day one.

I was one of those people who liked to think that if I'd been transported to another fictional world, that I'd be one of those that could take charge of the situation and make the best of it all. I was quickly finding out that I was not one of those people. I was not ready for this world in the slightest, I was sheltered compared to those who lived here.

And I was just done with everything.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but when I awoke the embers of the fire that had been at my feet were dying down. I hadn't changed from the spot I had curled up in last night, the morning light peeking over the horizon. I didn't hesitate to grab what gear I had left and leave the fallen tree den.

I think it was at this point I was officially broken.

I stopped caring.

I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head, giving myself meager protection from the cold, I grabbed the katana, and "sheathed" it by sliding it between my back and the bag strapped to my lower back.

First order of business, find a town.

Second order of business, take whatever I can get my hands on and not get caught.

Third, rinse and repeat...


	7. Chapter 7:Ready for an Ass Kicking

I think the memory centers of my brain literally shut down.

Considering that the next...y'know I actually don't know how long it was that everything blurred together.

I know the first couple days were spent stealing everything I could get my hands on without getting caught. Though I did get caught once, I "hardcore parkour"-ed away from the pissed off store owner when I stole a scabbard off a sword he was peddling. I think I skipped town the next day.

My shoulder was getting better. I managed to get some medical supplies in the next town, actually paying for it mind you, that I used to treat it a bit, which seemed to help numb the pain and speed up the healing process, still not going to avoid the scar it's gonna leave behind though.

Granted, zero fucks were given at this point.

Furthermore, on my travels I'd come up with the idea that if this world wanted to bean me upside the head I was going to fight back with the fury of a thousand cannons. I found another weapons store and got kunai and shuriken and stored them in my bag. I started searching for anything that could give me tips on how to use chakra.

I was gonna teach myself how to use Ninjutsu.

Now I'll admit that I was kind of jumping the gun with that little idea. I had absolutely no idea how to do it. Granted I wasn't exactly aiming to jump all the way to learning the chidori, I was concentrating mostly on the basics, molding chakra, casting jutsu's and such. Then again I wasn't the best when it came to self teaching, and that was still overlooking the most glaring problem...

...I had no idea how to chakra.

Kind of a huge issue that is! Which is exactly why I was looking for any tips on that. I couldn't just look for a book or something, since, y'know, _everything in Japanese_.

So I had to make do with simply _guessing_ as to how to do it.

First things first though, learn how to fight. Or rather, don't be a spindly North American teenager and up your muscle-game. Granted I had a bit of a head-start on the physical fitness part of the deal. I played in the girls rugby team at school during the fall months, and I'd played soccer since I was eight until I'd entered high school. You wouldn't really expect that from a massive anime and gaming nerd now would you?

Point is physical activity was never the bane of my existence, I actually enjoyed going on walks when I felt like getting out of the house but had no reason too.

But I'm getting off track at this point.

As I made my way from town to town I would stop in the surrounding area and find a secluded spot with a few decent targets to practice throwing things. I quickly found out I had fuck all when it came to aim, though that was largely due to having no practice with throwing knives of any kind or the shuriken.

The next thing was actually using the katana that I'd taken from that bandit. I probably looked incredibly fucking retarded to any outside observer, swinging the sword around mostly aimlessly, There was a method to my madness however. I already knew that video games and movies weren't exactly the most informative resources when it came to close combat. Though I did watch a bunch of people on youtube about sword fighting and martial combat tactics and skills.

I basically tried extrapolating from memory how to wield a blade, though the guys I watched mainly used european blade types such as long swords or zweihanders, and I wasn't sure it could be applied to a katana, but it was worth a shot.

I would also take to jogging between destinations to build up my stamina. It earned me some odd looks from the folks on the road, though I suppose that could also be due to my appearance.

I'd kept the jacket, leggings and sandals with boot attachments from the cabin I'd found on the first day, and I still stored my belongings in the same sandy beige messenger fanny-pack type bag on my lower back. Beyond that though I was wearing a blueish-grey which was secured by a burgundy sash tied around my waist, essentially replacing the jacket I'd lost. Luckily the weather seemed to be warming as I went, so I didn't need to focus so much on keeping myself warm. I'd also found a pair of heavier duty black pants, that were a shade warmer than the brown pants I'd been wearing until now. I mostly walked with the hood of the jacket up, largely my fear of being found surfacing.

But what probably made people do a double-take was how I actually looked now. My hair hadn't been cut or washed in months due to lack of opportunity and not wanting to freeze in the rivers by attempting to bathe. It now reached down to my mid-back with ease and was largely stuck together into large unruly proto-dreadlocks due to the absurd level of grease and lack of an available comb or the will to actually take care of it. I probably smelled as bad as I looked, the whole "not being able to take a shower" thing making it hard to control my B.O. and my skin was a darker tinge with a sheen of grime and sweat.

My eyes were baggy and sleepy looking, I still couldn't sleep soundly due to the nightmares. My face covered in scratch marks from being slapped in the face with branches during my quick escapes through the forests from earlier in my little "adventure". Hell my toe and finger nails had grown to incredible lengths before nature decided to cut them the old fashioned way, leaving them jagged and beat to all hell, dirt encrusting them underneath.

Point is I looked like shit and smelled like I'd crawled out from a septic tank, so I kept my distance from everybody and only entered the villages at night to avoid detection by the general populace to get the things I needed. Which is where I typically tried to get in touch with my chakra.

I knew that I probably had some, considering the "chakra infusion" line Mr. Science Man had said before zapping me with a steam-punk electrical super-weapon. The problem was finding it. Kind of hard when you have no idea what you were looking for.

Oddly enough, shutting down might have actually been beneficial for me. I was taking risks that I normally wouldn't have because at this point I couldn't care less if I lived or died. I was adapting by not giving a shit and by wanting to show this world that I wasn't going to go quietly into the night.

Though I think that's largely how they caught up.

I was walking along a dirt road during sunset, the next village being quite a ways away from here meaning I'd need to find a shelter to bunker down and work on my method of chakra training and to get a meager amount of sleep once again. The snow had been getting less prevalent as I went, and I figured out through hearsay that I'd crossed into the Land of Hot Water. Y'know, that place Hidan was from? Yeah, there.

it was about then that I heard the sound of a kunai whistling through the air from behind me. Say what you want about paranoia, but it does keep your senses sharp. I spun on my right foot, moving my head out of the way just in time for it to miss my head, though it did catch my now very long hair.

I managed to pick out the guy who'd thrown it. My heart lurched slightly at the sight at the same grey jumpsuit and purple flak jacket getup I'd seen on breakout day. He stood further back down the road, and off to the left from where I was standing, still in a throwing stance. He straightened up and took a few slow steps forward. I quickly placed a hand on my sword, ready to draw it if he made a move.

"You sure are a resourceful one 416." He said gruffly, his face obscured by the ski-mask and goggle combo that he was wearing. "I was genuinely surprised that you had escaped and killed two shinobi."

My face shifted into one of repressed anger, calm determination etched on my lips and eyes. "Funny, I would have thought you'd have come at me instead of trying to talk me to death." I responded in deadpan.

"You're a fighter, and you show promise. That I can respect." He said before drawing a kunai and dropping into a slight battle stance. "But you're also a huge liability, so I need to take you back, alive or dead."

He then almost seemed to vanish and I could barely track the blurry shape as he came around to my left. I drew my blade just in time to block the strike, the resonating strike of metal on metal filling the surrounding countryside. I had to use both hands to hold the blade up against the power of his strike, pouring every ounce of the strength of my muscles into my arms.

He however had a free hand.

I jumped backward as he pulled out another kunai and stabbed for my face, barely able to get out of the range of the attack in time. He came at me again and again with the kunai, striking wherever he could seem to find an opening. I parried, continuously taking steps backward as I did so.

Then I saw my chance.

As he pulled back to take another shot I saw what I thought was an opening in his defense. I swung at it with the katana, hoping to land a blow and make him back off long enough for me to hopefully figure out how to beat this guy. He however seemed to suddenly change tactics right then and there, hopping backwards to let the blade pass harmlessly in front of him with its upward swing. He then leapt into the air and started pitching kunai at me, over and over while he hung in the air a good thirty feet off the ground.

I had to dodge and weave my way through them, I didn't want to risk testing my hand-eye coordination on trying to deflect those shots. They landed buried in the dirt around me as I attempted to dodge, a few managing to graze my arms and legs, and one managed to scratch my cheek as it went by.

I became very suddenly nervous when he landed and took no further action. "I'd suggest looking down." He said, obviously very amused.

I looked down at my feet where a kunai had landed, and tied around the loop on the hilt was the unmistakable sight of a paper bomb, not two feet away from where I stood.

"SHI-!" I managed to blurt out before it detonated and sent me flying backwards from the concussive force of the blast. I barely had time to cover my face with my arms to shield them from the explosion. When I hit the ground I began tumbling and rolling across it, bouncing as I hit small divots in the ground, finally coming to a stop a good 45 feet from where I stood.

I gasped and coughed as I lay face down on the ground, my head pounding and ears ringing from the explosion. Every bone in my body ached, and I struggled just to try and push myself up, my katana had been knocked away from my hands when I'd been tossed.

I felt a strong hand grab a good portion of my grimy hair and yank me up by it. I cried out in both pain and surprise when he lifted me up onto my knees by my hair, my hands snapping up and clawing at his fingers, trying desperately to make him let go.

"Come on 416! I though you could've put up a better fight than that!" he taunted me, quickly jerking me just to make me yelp again. He then threw me back to the ground, the impact knocking the wind form my lungs.

His foot slammed down into my mid back and I cried out again, groaning as his foot pressed down more and more as he added his weight progressively.

"Ah well, I guess you didn't show that much promise after all, didja 416?" He added, lifting his foot off my back only to slam it back down again right onto the wound on my back. I screamed as searing pain show through my arm and back.

For a few brief moments we were silent, other than the sounds of my pathetic whimpering. I hated this man, hated how he was one of those responsible for everything I lost, how he was one of those responsible for those who died in that damned place, hated how he wouldn't even say my name, like I was nothing more than a fucking number on the list of test subjects. Like he considered me less than human.

"That's not...my...name." I finally managed to croak out.

"Hmm? What was that."

"That's not my name." I repeated.

"I can't heeeaaaar yooouuu!" He said in sing-song as another taunt.

"THAT'S NOT MY NAME!" I finally shouted. It was cheezy as hell sure, especially when you consider what happened next.

I felt a massive power surge pour over every square inch of my body, pouring itself into my arms and legs. I pushed up with enough force to knock him off me, I could hear him swearing in surprise at my sudden movement.

Jumping to my feet I whirled and charged at him, my rage finally taking hold as I wound my left hand back, clenching my hand into a fist in anticipation for giving him a good punch to the face. I barely noticed the change in my vision, his body outline in red, the rest of the world in enclosed in white lines.

My fist connected with his cheek bone and sent him reeling. I wound back my right fist and punched him again. I tried getting in a third punch though he grabbed my arm when I came in for the punch and basically judo threw me over his back and onto the ground, the impact stunning me slightly. He tried to stomp his foot down on my chest but I grabbed his foot in both my hands and pushed it back up, causing him to stumble back.

From the way he was acting he seemed confused though I couldn't see his face, as if he hadn't expected me to retaliate with such ferocity.

To be honest I was kind of in the same boat as he was, I'd never felt so strong of fast or as _angry_ as I felt right now. I wasn't complaining, I was kicking his ass.

I ran at him again, swinging in a wild punch which he blocked. I tried to give a quick punch to his stomach, he blocked that too and held both my arms. He wound back and gave me headbutt to the fore head. I staggered backward and then felt his hands grab me by the collar of my shirt and pulled me close to give me a punch to the face. I brought my leg back and stomped my foot into his knee, causing him to stagger backward and let go of my right hand. I tried to punch him again but he caught me in another judo throw and I found myself staring up at him as he pulled out a kunai.

"You're dead kid!" He said before plunging the kunai down. I brought my arms up to shield myself and closed my eyes.

I heard a weird crunching sound, and for a second I thought it might have been his kunai impacting and smashing one of my arm bones, though I couldn't feel anything and when I opened my eyes I saw what had blocked the strike.

An arch made from what appeared to be hardened mud extending up over my head from the ground on either side of me. A few pieces broke off and fell onto my face, revealing the tip of his kunai lodged in the arch. He jumped backwards to get some distance, for the second time today I'd apparently caught him off guard.

"You're an Earth-style user?" He snapped his question at me. Drawing a couple hand-full's of shuriken and tossing them at me as I lay under the arch. I could see the spinning blades of death arcing towards me and I quickly got up and ran for it. They hit the Place where I'd been lying with repeated "thunk"-ing noises as they buried themselves in the dirt. "They never said that you guys could use chakra!"

Is that what happened? Had I instinctively managed to figure out how to use chakra? That seemed rather...impossible, I mean considering that I hadn't been born with the stuff. Fight or flight response might have resulted in a fluke thought.

"Alright then I guess it's time to take the kid gloves off!" He said, before pulling out a scroll from somewhere behind him. He pulled his ski mask to reveal his mouth before bit his thumb and unfurled the scroll, dragging his bloody digit across it. He disappeared in a puff of white smoke, like the kind you'd see in a summoning jutsu.

Turns out that was exactly what it was, as a large wooden hexagonal pillar coated in long sealing tags and with a pointed end flung into the air, spinning end over end as it flew, the man who summoned it following it into the air, leaping above it as it fell back to earth. The spiked end crashed into the ground, burying itself in the dirt upright, it's impact pushing and dispersing the smoke.

The shinobi landed on top of the pillar, crouching down and going through a flurry of hand signs. The long sealing tags lifted off the pillar and extended outward from the top like some kind of flower. "Barrier Jutsu: Trapping Dome!" He called out. All of a sudden a sealing circle drew itself outward from the pillar extending far beyond my own distance to the pillar. I could see the barrier extend upwards in a dome above my head.

"Earth Style Summoning: Endless Army of Earthen Soldiers!"

The ground itself began to shift, the earth molding into vaguely humanoid shapes made of mud and rocks. They were already surrounding me, lumbering closer as if stuck in a drunken stupor, and odds are I was going to have fight my way out of these things.

"Let's see you get away from this one you damn brat!" He taunted from his position at the top of the pillar.

I reached into my bag and pulled out one of the kunai I'd stolen earlier. Again I couldn't throw them worth shit, but then again I probably couldn't get into the thick of it with them considering I would be overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.

Grace under pressure I guess.

I pitched one of them straight at the nearest earth husk. It actually hit, burying itself into its chest area. The husk drunkenly staggered backward but quickly recovered and started lumbering forward again.

"Shit." I cursed under my breath. These things weren't going to be that easy to take down. "Looks like up close and personal might be the only way to go." I ran up to the one closest to me and ran in with a right cross.

It was like my fist just glooped into its face, the mud wrapping itself around my fist. I tried pulling out my hands, and the mud husk began to shift and slide, it's head becoming a new left arm, it's current left arm retracting into its body as it form a new head. Its right hand gripped the kunai still lodged in its chest, pulling it out to use it.

I pulled out another kunai from my bag with my free hand and slashed at its wrist cutting the hand holding the kunai right off. Well I guess I could hack their limbs off.

Which meant decapitation was also probably possible. I cut at its neck and pulled up with my trapped arm, essentially ripping its head right off. I backed up and noticed that I was now effectively completely surrounded in a circle of these things. Though at least the head of the other guy was falling off my hand, thus freeing it even though it was now caked with mud.

I pulled out another kunai, and got ready to fight. "Come on you ugly mud bastards! Come and get some." I cursed at the husks. I wasn't going to be able to fight them all, they were going to get me at some point and there was no way I was running away from this fight anymore. I was going to get the blaze of glory I'd been looking for.

Well apparently Mr. Crouching-Ninja-Hidden-Asshole up on top of the pillar had other plans when I felt a kunai lodge itself in my back. I staggered forward, dropping my weapons and reaching backwards to try and yank it out.

Thunk.

Another one hit me in the lower back just above where my bag was. I dropped to my knees.

The Husks melted away and the shinobi landed in front of me. "Y'know I'll admit that you put up a decent fight for someone who wasn't properly trained, especially with those eyes of yours." He told me twirling a kunai with his right index finger, holding three more in his left hand as he walked slowly up to me. I glared at him with an intensity that could have melted steel, though barely able to keep my eyes on him as a combination of fatigue and blood loss started to get to me.

He whipped the kunai at me, and it hit me in the thigh on my left leg. I doubled over in pain for just a slight moment, now sitting on my legs, looking back up at him again for him to whip another kunai into my other leg. A third struck my left arm just below the shoulder and instinctively I reach up with my right hand to grab the blade, though I now lacked the strength to pull it out. He now stood only a few feet from me when I looked up again.

"Afraid this is the end of the road." He said before as he sent the last kunai right for my head. My eyes widened and a last surge of adrenaline was enough to let me raise my good arm to shield my face and turn my head away as I braced for the inevitable.

It never came. Rather just as I was raising my arm I heard the unmistakable clang of metal on metal and the kunai never hit. Then I heard a thud.

I dared lower my arm and turn my head back to see what had happened. Even through my blurring vision I could see him lying on his side on the ground, a fuzzy dark shape sticking out of the side of his head.

At this point I couldn't really make out much, the blood loss was finally getting to me after the multiple wounds and lack of sleep but I _do_ remember hearing footsteps on the grass to my right, I think they might have been running but I can't remember. I heard someone speaking but couldn't make out the words, my ears suddenly deciding to go partially deaf. It was at that point that I keeled over and lost consciousness.

I first heard the chirping of birds outside when my eyes decided to open again. My body was sore and I had a pounding headache, but I could still make out the feeling of being in an admittedly _very_ comfortable bed with a nice thick blanket covering me up to my shoulders.

How in the hell had I wound up here?

I managed to push myself up, straining my injured arm to do so and letting out a pained grunt as I did so. Well wherever I was it definitely looked like a hotel room from where I was sitting. There were two double beds in the room, one was the one I was lying on, the other had the covers messed up meaning someone had been sleeping in it earlier.

There was a dresser on the opposite wall, located centrally relative to the beds with my back and sheathed katana sitting on top of it. The walls were white and the ceiling was wooden planks with pot lights over the beds and the walking areas. The floor was made of more wooden planks, with most of it covered by tatami mats. I couldn't see the door to the room from here, though I guessed it was down the small "hallway" that I guessed would serve as the entrance and would hold the entrance to the bathroom or something.

I took a minute to look myself over. Whoever had brought me here had bandaged my injuries, I could feel it on my legs arms and around my torso. They'd dressed me in a grey kimono with a purple floral pattern running up the sleeves. I suppose I should thank the person who got me here, though part of me was still afraid about what motives they might have in doing so. You never know who's out there.

I heard someone unlocking the door and my breath hitched. I guess I'd be finding out who had brought me to this joint. The door opened and shut as someone stepped in and I heard the sound of a rustling bag. Time seemed to slow as I waited for them to reveal themselves.

I guess I sort of expected the worst, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a woman in her mid-twenties walk in. She had shoulder length ruddy brown hair that seemed both untamed and elegant at the same time, how the hell that was supposed to work made absolutely no sense. Her eyes were a bright green, and she wore a smile that made me feel a bit more at ease.

What struck me was the outfit and headband that she wore. She wore a blue long sleeved shirt with the sleeves ending just below her elbows, black fingerless gloves with metal plates covering the rest of her arms. Her pants were equally blue and bandaged up around her black sandals. A green flak jacket was zipped up over her shirt, a kunai holster was strapped to her right thigh and a belt was tied around her waist just below the flak jacket holding a few scrolls to her lower back.

"Oh hey your awake!" She said, setting the bag down on top of the dresser and flashing me a toothy grin. "How are you feeling?"

My right hand fiddled with a few rebellious strands of hair as I answered. "Like I got buried under a ton of bricks." I said in relation to my soreness.

"Huh." She said walking over and sitting down onto the bed next to mine. "So, I hope you don't mind me asking about why that guy was attacking you like that?" She asked, clasping her hands together on her lap and tilting her head slightly to the right.

My eyes lowered when she asked that. Well it's not like I couldn't tell her the truth about it. Nothing really incriminating about that. "He was trying capture me and bring me back to that facility." I told her. "I escaped and I guess he was sent out to drag me back by my hair."

"Really?" She asked, leaning back and crossing her arms.

"Yeah." I said, fidgeting in the bed nervously as the memories started coming back. "I kinda don't really want to talk about it." I admitted to her, giving her a weak smile.

"Bad memories?" She asked, tilting her head to the left now.

"Kinda yeah."

"Alright then." She said getting up and walking over to the bag on the dresser. "I got you some new clothes since the ones you were wearing goat a bit torn up in the fight." She pulled out a black t-shirt from the bag. "I didn't know your size so I just kinda guessed as to what would fit, hope you don't mind."

I again smiled weakly. "Nah it's fine, I've been living with clothes that haven't quite fit right for two months now, I can't really afford to get picky now anyway." I admitted scratching the back of my head.

"Though before you get changed, I'd suggest you take a shower." She said smiling nervously. "No offense but you kinda stink."

I couldn't help but chuckle as I slowly eased my feet to the side of the bed. "Well you know, two montsh without a shower'd do that to ya!" I said.

"Oh that's right I completely forgot!" She said suddenly as I got up from the bed. "What's your name kiddo?"

I blinked. "Uh, Akane Mori." I said, for my money I hadn't missed a beat doing it. Then again I had basically drilled it into my own head that my name was Akane now.

She smiled again. "Alright Akane, my name is Azumi Sarutobi, nice to meet you!" She said, energetically pointing towards herself with her thumb and giving me another toothy grin. Sarutobi huh? So she was probably related to the Third Hokage and Asuma. I'll admit that was a little cool.

"When you're done your shower I'll help you redress your wounds." She said after me as I went into the bathroom. I gave her a quick thumbs up as I enter the room to let her know that I understood.

I closed the door behind me and turned the shower on, getting undressed getting under the water. The bandages basically dissolved under the water as I scrubbed myself clean, which wasn't easy considering It hurt just to move my body an eighth of an inch in any direction. I found out that Azumi had actually stitched the wounds closed. Well that was gonna be fun when it came time to getting them removed.

I stepped out the shower and wrapped myself in a towel before I tossed the remnants of the bandages in the trash can and began rummaging through the vanity in the bathroom, looking for a pair of scissors. I was getting sick of my hair being thirty feet long and so I was determined to cut them back to a more reasonable length. My champions luck decided to hold out and I found a pair.

With a few grunts and groans I managed to sit myself down over the edge of the bathtub that also served as the shower and started cutting it down to a relatively decent length. I wound up cutting it down to shoulder length, though it was messy but still a passable job for my money.

I got dressed back in the kimono and left the room. Azumi was laying out various medical supplies on her bed. Bandages a pair of scissors and a bottle of what I assumed was disinfectant.

"You feel better?" She asked me as I walked over.

"Much better." I admitted. "It's nice to actually take a shower after all this time."

"I'll bet." She said sitting down on the messy bed, and patted on a spot next to her. "Sit down and we'll get started." I did as she asked and sat down on the bed. She immediately got to work bandaging me back up. "If you don't mind, I have another question for you." She said suddenly as she applied a bit of the disinfectant on the first wound I'd received since getting here. I hissed a bit when it started stinging.

"Damn that smarts!" I growled.

"Sorry about that, but this one's a bit infected already." She told me now beginning to bandage it back up. "So about that question..."

"Shoot." I replied, mentally bracing myself for whatever she might ask. Please don't let it be about that glorified metal box.

"That Dojutsu you have, what's it called?" She asked, all the humor in her voice melting away. "I haven't seen that one before." She said finishing up and moving on to the next spot.

Wait a minute...what? Dojutsu? Like the Sharingan or the Byakugan? What the hell was she on about? 

"I'm sorry?" I asked turning to look over my shoulder at her.

"You eyes are black now right?" She said to me. "When I found you they were blue and orange."

I stared at her puzzled. "Are you sure about that?" I asked genuinely confused. "You don't think it might have been a trick of the light or something?" Well it would explain how my vision got fucked halfway through that fight after I felt that power surge. Though how had I gotten it?

Oh right those guys had switched my eyes out hadn't they? That must have been where I'd gotten.

"Yes I'm sure." She replied. "I'm guessing that you don't exactly know about it do you?"

"Not particularly not. This is news to me too, honestly." I said, shaking my head.

"Huh..." I could feel her weight shift as she leaned back again. "Any idea how you might have gotten it?"

I nodded but said nothing. I was reluctant to actually say anything about that, but I guess I had no choice. I swallowed before I spoke. "If I had to guess, I'd say I got it when I was at that place before I got away."

"So human experimentation then." She murmured under her breath, quietly enough that I could barely pick it up. We sat in silence for a little while as she worked over the injuries, probably she wasn't willing to press me on it right now. My mind began to race, thinking back to the facility, trying to figure out what they wanted to do with me. What Sherry and the others had died for...

I was coming up with nothing, though I did think of something else.

"You're a shinobi right?" I asked. Azumi seemed to freeze for a split second when I asked that.

"Well technically I'm a kunoichi but, yeah, why?"

"Could you teach me." I continued. "At least the basics?"

"Hmm?"

"Well I mean...I'd feel better if I could defend myself you know?" I said, making my case. "Most of the scraps I've gotten into until now I just ran away, and the one where I actually tried to fight I got my ass kicked, so..."

There was silence as Azumi finished up bandaging the last wound on my arm. I figured she probably wouldn't just outright teach me things, and it was a long shot to ask anyway. But I figured it was worth it to at least try.

She sat back and cross her arms over her chest. "Well I am still on a mission so I guess you could tag along." She said, breaking the silence before giving me another smile. "Why not I guess I could teach you a few basics."

I almost tackled her when I tried to hug her. I was almost screaming "thank you" at her and probably opened up a few of the fresher wounds by doing that. I was so happy that I actually found someone that was willing to help me and not kick my ass or take advantage of me in whatever way. I didn't care so much that she was willing to teach me the shinobi arts, I was more happy to find someone who cared.

"Okay okay!" She said grabbing me by the shoulders and holding me back from her. "I'll start you off on the basics but we'll be doing mostly non-physical stuff until you've healed up more."

She brought me to the bed I'd slept in the night before and helped me sit down. "I still have to hang around this town for a bit, so we'll work on chakra control in here until we need to move on. Got it?" She told me, standing up and placing her hands on her hips.

I nodded. "Got it!"

"Alright then, I have to head out for a bit. You try and get some rest alright?" She turned and walked towards the entryway.

"Alright got it." I shifted and laid back down in the bed, pulling the covers up to my shoulders. The feeling that came over me was the first sensation of joy I'd felt in months.

It was nice to know that this worlds wasn't filled with assholes.


	8. Chapter 8: Learning how to Chakra

The next day was phenomenally boring. With my injuries I couldn't go outside and do anything except sit in the bed or take another shower. So I was basically stuck waiting for Azumi to get back so we could get started with whatever training we were gonna do. I wound up heading into the bathroom to take a good look at how beat up I was.

Not much had changed on that front, though it made me realize just how much I'd actually been through. I'd taken on three ninja's at different times, plus a group of bandits, and came out of it alive. Sure it was largely due to incredible luck but I made it.

I heard the sound of a key being slid into the lock of the door, which meant that Azumi was probably back. I slowly made my way out of the bathroom as the door opened and Azumi walked in.

"Oh hey, you're up!" She said as she walked in, twirling the keys on one of her fingers and flashing me another one of her grins.

"Well I had to pass the time somehow!" I pointed out, making my way back to my bed and sitting down. "So about that training..." I continued, hoping we could get started.

Azumi unzipped her flak jacket and threw it on the dresser, before reaching into one of the pouches. "Well, you're certainly raring to go." She said, before pulling out a small, blue rubber ball and tossing it to me. I caught it and stared at the unremarkable piece of rubber in my hands, squeezing it a little.

"The heck am I supposed to do with this thing?" I asked holding up the ball so she could see it.

"I was getting to that." She said, sitting down on her bed and pulling out another ball and holding it in her hands. "Today we're gonna get you to call upon your chakra and control it." She said. "And I'm guessing that your usage of it have been largely flukes until now." I nodded. If there was any way to describe it, that would be about right. "Alright then, so your training will consist of..." She held up the ball in the palm of her right hand fingers splayed outward, before rotating her hand until it faced down. Somehow the ball stayed glued to her hand when by all intents and purposes it should have fallen to the floor. "Making the ball stick to your hand with your chakra. That's all there is too it."

For about a good five seconds I stared at the gravity defying ball in her hand. I was completely befuddled until I realized that Sasuke basically did the same thing during the chunin exams, and then there was the whole tree climbing technique so it wasn't as insane as it looked. Magical ninjas, whaddaya gonna do?

"Okay, so how do I use chakra?" I asked. "I mean I never managed to use it consciously so..." I shrugged fiddling with the ball in my hand.

"Alright, close your eyes." She said, giving me another grin. I did as she asked and closed my eyes, mentally preparing myself for what seemed to be a round of meditation.

"Now I want you to picture in your mind a flame." Azumi began. "Small and vulnerable, like a candle." I did as she asked, and pictured a small flame waving weakly in a crushingly black expanse, fed by an unseen or perhaps even invisible candle.

"Got it." I replied, keeping the picture in my mind.

"Don't talk and steady your breathing." She said abruptly. I felt myself instinctively press my lips together slightly more. I quickly regained a clam breathing rate, relaxing my shoulders to ease into the rhythm.

"Feel the heat of the flame in your stomach." She instructed, I did my best to do what she asked. "When you feel it, give me a nod." I continued in my silent struggle to force the heat of the flame into my gut, a battle which probably took a few minutes, but eventually I pitched my head ever slightly back in forth in a slight nod.

"Now here's the part that makes the difference." Azumi told me, injecting her humorous inflections into her words. "I want you to see the flame expanding in your mind, the heat in your stomach growing alongside it." I did my best to visualize it, the small flame growing in intensity and ferocity, spreading itself along an unseen surface in the black void inside my head. The heat in my stomach was growing more intense as the flame grew, the warmth beginning to spread to creep out of my stomach and up into my chest and down into my legs.

It went on for long enough that I began to question how chakra would feel. Was this warmth that was spreading how chakra felt? I mean a lot of fanfics described it like this, a warmth in your stomach that permeates your body, and you'd feel the warmth shifting as you willed it to your limbs.

Well let's just say we were all wrong.

All the while that the warmth was building in my stomach, the familiar stinging in my limbs had again been building, as if straining against whatever I was doing. It was like the floodgates were opened as a sudden wave of pain washed over my body, the heat in my gut following shortly afterwards with a burning passion. Emphasis on the burning.

I must have been broadcasting that I was in pain somehow as I felt Azumi's hands gripping my shoulders as the pain subsided. I found myself staring into her green eyes, which looked into mine with concerned intensity.

"Hey, you alright?" She asked the obvious question.

I nodded quickly. "Y-yeah, I don't know what happened." I said, choking through the last linger bits of pain.

"Can you describe it to me?" She continued on, business-like and professionally, crouching down in front of me to bring herself to eye level.

I took a second to clear my head and collect my thoughts before giving my answer. "I dunno I just felt the warmth and then I just felt everything stinging." I told her. "I felt the stinging building up a little and then just, _whoom!_" I used my hands to show what it sort of felt like.

She merely looked me in the eyes and sat back on her bed, eyeing me with a calm and analytical gaze. "That is definitely not normal." She muttered, shaking her head slightly and bringing her hands together on her lap. "Let's try again and see what happens."

I did as she asked, and closed my eyes. I heard her say, "Picture the flame expanding with the heat." I nodded slightly, as the flame flashed into being in my head, the small heat in my stomach returning with it. I willed it to grow, concentrating more on the heat than the flame, letting it build up and grow.

This time it felt more like how all those fanfictions described, the warmth spread to the rest of my body, surging outward like a raging wildfire into my extremities. It made my wounds feel good, like they were actively healing.

"It feels warm." I said, keeping my eyes closed.

"That's a bit more normal..." She said. "You can open your eyes now."

I let my eyes open, but I willed to warmth to keep radiating outward. It felt so good, and made me feel lighter, like someone had taken half my bodyweight off my bones, without taking away my muscle strength.

"How're you feeling?" She asked me.

"Like I'm sitting next to a fire and able to bench a truck." I said, grinning.

"Oh...kay?" She said, giving me a curious look, though she was still smiling. "I assume that means you're feeling better than the first time we gave it a go?"

"Better than fine!" I said excitedly. "I feel fantastic!" I shot my fist into the air victoriously, the rush of warmth making me feel almost invincible compared to how I'd felt earlier. I immediately regretted it as my arm and shoulder wounds began to act up again and I dropped them both, wincing in pain.

"Yeah, don't let the feeling catch you off-guard kid. You're still mortal." Azumi quickly told me, dropping the truth bomb on my amateur ass.

"Well I know that now..." I admitted weakly.

Azumi chuckled a bit, before getting us back on track. "Do you feel warm?" I nodded, taking care not to upset my injuries again. "Does it flow through your whole body, yet feel strongest in your stomach?" I again nodded at her questions.

"Congratulations, you've awakened your chakra." She said, flashing me another toothy smile.

Shortly thereafter, we began with the ball training. In the probably two to three hour long training session, I didn't even get close to making the ball stick to my palm. Hell I barely even mastered focusing chakra to different parts of my body, and by the end of the training session I was exhausted, and quickly fell asleep thereafter.

The next day brought a new routine. Instead of trying to survive out on my own, searching for where my food was going to come from and where I was going to sleep that night, I largely sat in the room and busied myself with getting a handle on my chakra. I would sit cross legged on my bed in the room quietly summoning my chakra and urging it between different limbs, slowly balancing it from arm to arm, leg to leg, foot to foot, and hand to hand.

I didn't bother with the ball training until Azumi would sit with me at night and give me tips. Every day she brought back food at breakfast, lunch and dinner for me. Typically after lunch I'd walk around the room and try to get the strength and movement back into my limbs. I wouldn't be doing back flips any time soon, but I didn't want to sit around idly, and apparently careful movement can help speed the healing process, at least that's what I've read.

This continued for about a week as Azumi gathered intelligence for her mission. Apparently a group of bandits had started migrating between towns and terrorizing the local populations. I wonder if it had anything to do with the three bandits I'd met? Regardless, apparently the locals had gone to the Hidden Leaf for assistance as no-one seemed to be able to stop them and the Village Hidden in Hot Water was unwilling to assist in the matter. So Azumi had been given the task of tracking them down and taking them out.

I guess I'd been drafted into this in a way, as I would be coming with her on her mission, mainly to learn ninjutsu from her, and I surmised that that was the reason why she'd agreed so readily to teach me. It was so I could, in a way, act as backup in case things went south. Fucking genius idea if had to say so. With no backup, making your own was probably a good idea while out on mission, despite the skills of said backup being questionable at best.

...I think I'm becoming progressively more jaded. No shit right?

Eventually though we had to move on, and one night Azumi came back with the news that she knew where the bandits had gone, and we'd be following their trail.

The next day I took the bag of clothes she'd bought for me into the bathroom to get changed and cleaned up. I pulled out each article of clothing, the first was a black kimono-style t-shirt with blue borders on the sleeves with blue diamond markings above the borders. She'd emulated the burgundy sash by buying a vibrant red ribbon. Two navy blue , elbow-length gloves with armored plates attached to them via rivets were also included. Beige cargo shorts and black knee length socks would complete the ensemble. Getting changed quickly I pulled the last piece out of the bag. A kunai holster.

Yeah, I was the backup.

I tied it to my right thigh, it would be easier for my dominant hand to reach. I looked myself over in the mirror, when I'd finished changing. The clothes were both light and of a quality similar to a bargain shirt you;d find a Walmart, yet also felt like they were made of a tough material, almost like a thin type of cloth armor. I admit it felt so much better to be in new and clean clothes, and while I still looked a bit beat up in places, it was nowhere near as bad as it had been a few weeks ago. For the first time since I had been brought to this world, I felt happy and hopeful.

I exited the room to find both beds made and Azumi's things packed up and gone. My bag and sword sat on the dresser, with all my things packed up. I made my way over and reached into the bag and began shifting my kunai and shuriken to the holster. I had to admit it was rather impressively made, with multiple pouches that allowed you to organized what you wanted inside, while also allowing for its design to be slimmed down and compact. All told I had about 10 kunai and 15 shuriken in, with more of each still in the bag.

I guess it was time to go. I pulled the bag onto my back and tied it around my waist, letting the messenger-style bag rest on my lower back once again and sliding the sword under the strap. I left the room to find Azumi, she'd told me she would be waiting downstairs in the entrance to the hotel. The hallway outside the room was rather short, with only about four rooms on either side of the hall. It led to a dead-end on one side, and to a staircase on the other. When I descended the staircase I saw Azumi at the front desk, talking to a woman dressed in a kimono with a floral pattern. As if sensing my arrival she turned to me.

"Hey, you're looking good kid!" She complimented me, probably a little proud of herself as she had been the one to pick out the clothes. "Ready to go?"

I nodded as I made my way over to the front desk, the lady there giving me a polite smile and a slight nod of her head in an almost non-existent bow. "Yeah I'm ready."

Shortly thereafter Azumi thanked the innkeeper and we were off out of the northern gate of the village...the exact wrong direction if we were heading to the Hidden Leaf.

Then again we weren't. We were tracking down bandits.

The two of us walked in silence for a while, allowing me to take in the state of the weather. It was bright and sunny out, the sun casting warm rays down onto the fields and forests filled with melting snow and ice. I guess we were beginning to enter fall...

"How's your chakra training coming?" Azumi asked suddenly, shooting me a quick glance.

"Huh?" I replied caught off guard, though I quickly collected my thoughts and gave her my answer. "Uh, I dunno I'm getting a hang of it. " I reported, though I quickly scratched the back of my head. "Though I'll admit that I haven't been able to get the ball to stick to my hand like you did."

Azumi gave an amused huff. "Honestly, it's not exactly easy for someone to get right off the bat." She told me. "Though I gotta say you're selling yourself short."

I shot her a confused look. The hell does she mean that I was selling myself short? "What do you mean?" I asked.

"For a few nights now, while you practiced, I noticed that ball seemed to hesitate a little bit before dropping." She said laying on a sarcastically thoughtful tone. "Could it be that your getting a better handle on it than you think?" She asked in an almost mocking tone.

"Pff!" I retorted. "Whatever. I still haven't got it down so as far as I'm concerned i haven't made a whole lot of progress." I told her.

"C'mon aren't you being a bit hard on yourself?" She asked me earnestly while raising an eyebrow in my direction.

I just shrugged. "So I'm a perfectionist, sue me."

"Whatever you say kid. But if I had to take a stab at it, you'll have it down pat in another week or so." She reported, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Heck, by the time we get back to the Hidden Leaf Village, you might even have a few jutsu under your belt!" I'll admit I didn't quite believe it, how is it that I could possibly learn something like that this quickly? I mean it takes Shinobi years to learn how to cast jutsu right? I rolled my eyes at her.

Again she raised an eyebrow at me. "Yeesh, were you born this cynical or did you just become that way over time?"

I flashed her a look and said. "Well considering what's happened to me over the last few months, I'm gonna go with the latter." I told her truthfully.

We walked in silence afterwards, with me eventually taking the ball out of my bag and practicing the chakra control techniques she'd taught me. I don't think I'd made any improvement with willing my chakra to hold on to the ball, but actually summoning and controlling the chakra was a lot easier now though.

We kept walking until the sun began to come down and the town pulled into view. It was about then that I got the feeling like we were being watched. I put the ball back in my bag and began scanning the treeline to the left of us.

"So you noticed them to huh?" Azumi muttered to me, making sure to keep her voice low enough so that they wouldn't be able to hear, yet so I could still hear her.

Considering who we were looking for, I get the feeling that they were probably going to be the bandits that Azumi was looking for.

"You wanna take them on?" I asked her in a similarly hushed tone.

"Nah." She quickly replied. "I attack them now and they'll pack up and leave, I doubt this is the main force." She explained. "I'd rather them think that I'm here for different reasons, then I find out where their hideout is and take them out."

"Ah got it." I said in acknowledgement, though that didn't make me feel any better considering their constant gaze on us as we entered the village. I guess that they wouldn't outright attack us, considering they'd be taking on a ninja full on shinobi, which was a deterrent in and of itself. She was basically my best defense right now.

Which begs the question. What happens when she's looking for information? Am I gonna come along, or is she gonna shove me into a hotel room? I guess the hotel room sort of gives me a semblance of security, but I'd honestly rather sticking close to Azumi.

There was gonna be a long training session tonight I'll tell you that much...


	9. Chapter 9: A lot more work to do

I walked next to Azumi down the main road of the town, still trying to get the ball to stick to my hand. We'd left the hotel we slept in and now set out to smoke out some information on the bandits. Last night had been rough for me though. I could barely get any sleep, and when I did I was awoken seconds later by nightmares and memories of my run-in with bandits a while ago. Instead I spent most of the night sitting cross-legged on the bed getting my chakra to hold the ball to my palm.

My training had paid off somewhat, in that I could now get it to stick until my hand had rotated sideways before it fell off. But I needed to get it to stick while upside down. I needed to get a ball to defy gravity.

The day went by without much incident, Azumi and I would duck in and out of buildings or questioning people in the streets trying to find something, anything, to pin down the location of the bandits. Most people that we questioned didn't know where they were based. If they did, they wouldn't tell out of fear of reprisal.

After a few hours of this we found ourselves in field just outside the town eating lunch. Azumi sighed. "I guess we're not finding any info in town today." She relented, leaning on a wooden post driven into the ground. I sat cross-legged in the grass, shovelling rice into my mouth with chopsticks. I was hungry as hell from all the chakra work and it would probably continue that way until my body acclimates. "I guess there's always showing you how to use a jutsu or something."

I stopped eating when she dropped the "J"-bomb. Holy shit was this happening? Would I get to learn to use a jutsu?

"So how 'bout it kid?" She asked, shooting me a sidelong glance.

I jumped up. "Oh hell yeah!" I said happily. Holy shit, I was going to learn an actual jutsu! "Wait, I thought I had to master the ball thing before I could use a jutsu?" I asked, digging into my bag and taking out the ball.

Azumi smirked. "Who said anything about that?" She explained. "That was just a way to give you the skill in chakra control you were gonna need in a short ammount of time." She stood up from the post. "'course that's not going to do anything about your endurance." She reached into the a pouch and pulled out a scroll. Kneeling down she rolled scroll open on the grass and quickly went through a series of hand signs. She touched two fingers to the sealing circle in the middle of the scroll.

A loud popping sound and flash of white smoke sent a small roll of...something was sent flying up in the air, spinning end over end until Azumi caught it in her hand. It obviously weighed a lot as when Azumi caught it, it dragged her hand down a noticeable distance.

She placed it on the ground and rolled up the scroll placing it back in her back pouch. She unrolled the package on the grass and divided up the contents before standing up while holding a leather-looking piece of cloth affixed with metal plates with kanji written on them.

"These are arm and leg weights." She said, jostling the weights in her hand, making the metal plates clank together. "This is what we're going to do. We're going to take a moment to work on your stamina." She said before tossing the weight at my feet. "After that, I'll teach you a jutsu that corresponds to your natural element."

I let my shoulders slump forward. "That's it?" I asked, kinda bummed. "I mean you say you're going to teach me to use my chakra to blow up people and now you're-" I was cut off when I bent down to attempt to pick up the weight. Keyword "attempt". That thing felt like it weighed a ton. I heaved it up with as much effort as I could muster. "How the hell am I supposed to use this thing?" I grunted out.

Azumi sighed. "Well I mean first of all that's a twenty kilogram leg weight." She said stepping forward and taking it from me with one hand, seemingly barely fazed by the weight. '_Rub it in why don't you?'_ I thought to myself. "The arm weights are half that." She told me. bending down and picking up a smaller weight.

Okay so, to recap. That one leg weight, at about 20 kilos was the equivalent of 55 pounds. For comparison, _my entire body_ was about 118 pounds. So in other words, just in the legs I was gonna be wearing just shy of my entire bodyweight, and then another half of that on my arms!

"I literally cannot physically carry that much weight." I said flatly, pointing out the obvious. Like I've said a little earlier, I played for the girl's rugby team at my high school before I got so rude dropped off here. I was used to weight training but I never had to actively lift one-and-a-half times my own body weight.

Azumi raised an eyebrow at me. "Okay first of all, this weighs about as much as me and I can do it no problem..." She began, letting the leg weight flop onto the ground. "Secondly, what do you weight?"

"Uhh, about 120 pounds?" I answered.

"Then you can lift the weights. We start academy students on a similar ratio of weight to build muscle mass." She explained.

I crossed my arms. "You guys at the Hidden Leaf must certainly be a friendly bunch..." I said sarcastically.

"Oh shut it." She said picking up the leg weight she'd dropped. "C'mon put these on." I sighed. This was going to hurt me wasn't it?

I lay on my back, arms and legs lying splayed out on the ground as if I'd just finished making a snow angel, weighed down with 160lbs of weight. My chest rose and fell as I gasped out ragged breaths, exhausted from what Azumi had just put me through.

She'd basically had me run the gauntlet from lunch until sundown, having me run god knows how long before putting me into a sparring match which I had no hope of winning, giving me a short break and forcing me to run again, then spar, rinse-repeat, rinse-repeat, on and on for hours. I have no idea how many bruises would be on my body after Azumi had beaten the ever-loving crap out of me during our sparring match. I had no idea how to fight and she did. She could read me like a book.

The entire way I could not physically lift those weights so I'd had to figure out how to send chakra into my limbs to be able to move. You'd think that would be easy right? Send chakra to your arms and legs and boom! Instant strength increase!

Actually you had to send chakra into your muscles in time with your muscle contractions, which is in no way easy in any way. I had barely figured out how to master it, let alone fight a trained shinobi by the time I'd dropped.

"You did good." She said, giving me token congratulations.

"Oh...shove it..." I gasped out. I'd wanted to say more but I was too tired to say the rest of the phase: 'shove it up your ass.' I could hear Azumi sigh as she walked over to my side, and bent down to grab my arm, working at the straps that held it on.

"Come on kid." She said, getting the arm weight off, before moving to my other arm. "Let's get you outta these weights and get some food in you." I lay there as she removed the other weights, too tired to bother moving in even an inch in protest.

"Think...I could just...lie here a bit?" I asked, my body having gone numb out of exhaustion. I didn't want to move, rather I felt like going to sleep right here on the ground.

"Nope, you need food. I can hear your stomach growling from here." She responded, pulling me up to a sitting position, and then letting me lean on her shoulder so I could stand. "Gotta commend you kid, didn't think you'd last as long as you did."

"Yeah?" I asked, still breathing heavily as I stood on dangerously shaky legs.

"Yeah." She replied. I stumbled and fell forward and Azumi caught me, pulling me back up. "Easy there kid, I got you."

We made our way back into town, Azumi basically dragging me back there until I got enough of my strength back to my limbs to be able to trudge along next to her. She led me into the first restaurant we found, a quaint little ramen place on the main road back to our hotel.

"Hey! Welcome!" the store own said in a raspy voice. He was a short balding man probably in his 60s. "What can I get for you?"

Azumi and I sat down at the counter. Okay well "sat down" isn't exactly accurate. I more "flopped" down, sitting in my seat and resting my head down on the counter.

"Don't care…whatever has the most calories." I grumbled, face down on the counter.

"Miso Pork Ramen for the two of us. Extra pork for her." Azumi ordered for the both of us.

"Comin' right up." The shop owner said, turning to his work.

I don't know how long it was until we got our food, must not have been very long though as it felt kind of like a couple of minutes. I sat up, grabbed chopsticks and began eating the ramen. Have to say that I'm not a fan of the stuff, tasted bland and the noodles always seem to get sort of overcooked as you went. Maybe that's just me griping but ultimately I didn't care right now. I was wolfing the stuff down, hungry enough to eat a fully grown rhino if I wanted.

"How is it?" Azmui asked as I slurped up another mouthful.

I swallowed and took a gulp from a nearby glass of water. "It's food." I responded, grabbing another group of noodles in the chopsticks.

"Good." She said. "Eat up, we've got a lot of work to do."

"What work exactly?" I asked, curious.

"Pretty much everything." Was her curt response. "You're muscle mass is underdeveloped for a shinobi, you need better stamina and chakra control, and frankly, you suck in a fight." She laid it out flat, essentially saying that I had no real skills in fighting

I rolled my eyes. "Rub it in why don't you?" I grumbled.

"Wasn't trying to." She said. " Rather, I'm saying what we have to work on. I was hoping to be able to teach you a basic ninjutsu, but the amount of work that we'll have to do is such that we won't be able to until we work on your physical abilities and chakra control." I finished the bowl of Ramen and drank down the broth while she explained the situation.

"So then what's our play?" I asked, putting the bowl back down onto the counter.

Azumi tilted her head in thought. "Waiting for time at the end of the day for me to train you is going to be difficult." She admitted. "I've got to still work to do around here. Which means that we're going to have to do some multitasking." She finished her own bowl of Ramen, drinking down the broth. "So, starting tomorrow, you're going to spending the morning working on your chakra control, and figuring out how to actually throw a kunai."

"Who says I don't know how to throw one?" I retorted, feeling a bit insulted.

"Kid, you barely know how to throw a decent punch." She pointed out.

"Point." I sighed.

"So as I was saying." She continued. "In the afternoon, once I've gotten everything I need to get done for the day, we'll do a combination of weight training and combat training. We'll keep doing that every day until you're ready to actually handle a jutsu. The harder you work at it the faster you learn." She flashed me a grin. "So kid? You up for it."

I stared back down at the empty bowl in front of me. "Yeah I'm willing to work at it…" I said. "On one condition." I grabbed the lip of the bowl and tilted it a little to direct Azumi's attention towards it.

She smiled and turned to the shopkeeper. "Get us another round!"

Booyah, more food for Alex!


	10. Chapter 10: Fruits of my Labor

The next two weeks had been hell. Like Azumi said I'd get up at the crack of dawn and head out to the grassy clearing where I'd alternate between working on my chakra control with the ball and throwing kunai and shuriken at the posts. The ball had been rather quick to finally get down pat, and my chakra training for a couple of days had consisted of me simply sticking the ball to my hand and then letting it drop into my lap. It had been entertaining until I'd decided to try the tree climbing technique. That happened about once and I'd paid for it with a nasty bump on the back of my head.

Kunai had been a different matter. I still sucked at throwing or aiming the bloody things, eventually though I had something close to getting something passable in throwing though it was nothing as efficient as what they did in the show. I'd grab the blade by the hilt, putting the tip of my index finger on the point on the side and then threw it overhand towards the target post. That way I could at least hit the target but it also had jack-all in terms of range and always had a tendency to veer downward. Hell it was better than nothing.

Shuriken were even worse for me, I now had my hands wrapped from how many times I'd cut myself on those star-shaped hunks of crap. They _never_ flew straight, no matter what I did or how fast or slow I threw them they would never hit their mark. Ever. I gave up with them after a while, satisfied with actually being able to hit something with a kunai. Eventually I asked Azumi for tips on how to throw them, but it hadn't really help much.

Speaking of, training with Azumi after lunch was not exactly a cakewalk either. In her teaching she took up the mantra of "Pain means work harder" and would in no way let you get off with any form of excuse. After lunch she'd drill me in close-in hand-to-hand combat manoeuvers, usually the type where I'd wind up on the ground on my back or on my face. I'd asked her to teach me how to wield my katana, but had said that she really had no experience in Kenjutsu.

After that we'd strap on the weights and run through a full drill of running laps around the clearing, about 15 in both directions, before moving on the push-ups, squats and sit-ups, eventually moving on to putting that afternoons combat drills into practice. But this time I had a handicap!

What progress I'd made with my appearance in the last couple of weeks had been undone in two days, dirt and grime having been replaced with scrapes, scratches, cuts and bruises. I was almost glad for the fact that I had no one watching me train out in the field since I looked like I'd gotten into a fight with a bulldozer. Specifically the huge ones they used at mines.

I felt like it too. Every night I'd go back to the hotel room sore as hell, take a shower and drop into bed exhausted. I'd wake up the next morning and somehow feel worse, like while I was asleep I'd gone through more squats or push-ups and then managed to dislocate my shoulders, elbows, hips and knees before worming my way back into bed. Thank god I was so tired though, it kept the nightmares in check by making sure I never dreamt.

I could go on all year about how much Azumi's training methods hurt or tired me out, but damn did they get results. I'd wound up putting on more muscle mass than I had in an entire season playing rugby, and I had effectively mastered summoning my chakra and shifting it to different parts of my body. I had gone through the basics in less than a month. How's that for an accomplishment?

Still didn't make up for me feeling like utter crap.

This morning had been no different. I came to when I felt Azumi's hand on my shoulder, shaking me briskly as my eyelids struggled to open. I groaned, in both pain and fatigue. I rolled over onto my back having been sleeping on my side, my movements sluggish as my limbs felt like wet noodles.

"I'm up, I'm up." I grumbled, pushing Azumi's hand aside.

"Well hurry up kid, you're burning daylight!" Azumi said cheerfully as she walked away to go take a shower. She took her showers in the morning, whereas I hated going to bed encased in my own grime and sweat.

"Oh shut it." I growled back at her as I threw the covers aside and slid my legs off the bed, the aching feeling starting to seep into my joints. I arched my back and rolled my shoulders in a feeble and fruitless attempt to get the feeling out of my bones before I got up.

While Azumi took her shower I got dressed, slipping into what had become my unofficial uniform, and re-bandaged my hands. Many of the cuts were healing well, others would probably scar, and others were still fresh and stung like hell when I applied more disinfectant.

Azumi exited the bathroom, fully dressed for the day as I was going through a few basic stretches to try and ease the soreness from my joints.

"Ready to get at it?" She asked, giving me another one of her grins.

"As I'll ever be." I answered with a sigh as I shook out my arms.

We left the hotel room and parted ways, I headed to my training ground, pouch and messenger fanny pack loaded up with kunai and shuriken. I had stopped using the ball entirely now and I was committed to trying the tree-climbing technique in its stead, this time I'd go in with a little more caution though.

The town itself had proven to be rather quiet in the morning, not many people were out and either would rather sleep in or were too afraid to step outside. Y'know, what with the whole "bandits besieging the town" thing.

That was strange though. Since we'd arrived I hadn't heard or seen anything involving them. Maybe they were cautious with Azumi here? I dunno, but I was out here to work.

I reached the clearing, the morning sun peaking out over the treetops as a cool early morning breeze swept over the grass. A few chirping birds could be heard off in the distance, greeting the morning with song. One could consider this idyllic if I were any other person. Instead I reached into the kunai holster on my thigh and flung one of the triangular knives at a nearby post.

It spun end over end as it arced towards the post before burying itself into the post. I pulled out another and flung it again trying to get the stupid thing to fly straight. Again it spun like a buzz saw before it glanced off the side of the post and landed on the grass with a thud.

"Goddammit." I cursed under my breath. I continued to try flinging the kunai at the post, only getting it to fly as straight as in the show twice, and even then both had missed the post. I eventually wound up giving up in frustration and walked over to a nearby tree.

Time to climb a tree.

I planted my foot onto the trunk of the tree. Time to give it a go. I began pouring chakra into the sole of my foot, gradually increasing the output until I felt the sole of my foot begin to press itself into the sandal. I gave my leg a small tug, testing the grip and not willing to actually try to get up the tree without knowing whether or not I was going to just pitch backward onto my head again.

It seemed to hold.

That was promising.

I began pouring what felt like a similar amount of chakra into my other foot, leaning forward I grabbed onto the sides of the tree with my hands before I pushed off the ground, smacking my foot into the trunk of the tree. I heard a crunch as some of the bark was crushed under my foot. So far so good, I stuck to the tree.

Now the moment of truth.

I slowly let myself fall back, letting myself stand straight out for the tree. One thing was for certain, weight-training with Azumi had built up my core muscles like crazy. So there I was, standing out from the tree trunk, a good two feet off the ground.

I dared take a step forward.

Mistake.

The foot that was still connected to the trunk slipped and for a few brief seconds I was in freefall. The impact of hitting the ground reverberated throughout my body, the back of my head throbbed as the bruise on my skull hit dirt.

I found myself staring up at the branches of the tree, silently cursing at how it seemed so undisturbed by my failure.

I got up to try again.

I spied Azumi through the leaves as I hung upside down from a tree branch, the noonday sun hanging high in the air. I'd spent the morning working on tree climbing and my had and back we covered in bruises to show for it. Didn't matter. For once I'd managed to figure something out on my own and I was damn happy about it.

Azumi seemed confused by my apparent absence from the clearing, in one hand carrying a boxed lunch that was meant for me. She always ate first before bringing me something. I know that I was probably worrying her somewhat, but I wanted this to be a surprise.

"Akane!" She called out, trying to find me. Man for a Jonin she sucked at detection. Was she a Jonin? I can't remember asking.

Regardless that was my cue. I let my legs go slack, and I dropped down below the leaves, my feet still anchoring me to the branch with chakra. I let my arms fall, pointing with my index fingers towards the ground in a sort of victory sign as I dangled a good twenty feet off the ground. "Yo!" I greeted cheerfully, grinning ear to ear.

Azumi's eyebrows kicked up for a split second in surprise until her face relaxed and she gave me another one of her grins. "You cheeky little..." She muttered, casually walking over to the tree that I was dangling from. "What are you doing up there?"

I shrugged, or gave my best attempt at a shrug from how I was hanging upside down. "Killing time mostly." I said, clearly lying. I kinda wanted her to figure it out.

"And what about your training?" She asked accusingly, her smirk clearly hinting at something else. "Did climbing trees somehow help you get better chakra control?" She dropped the lunch at the base of the tree.

I smiled again. "You cloud say that yeah."

That seemed to be the kind of confirmation she'd been looking for as she sat down at the base of the tree. "get down from there ya little monkey." She said, motioning with her hand that I should get down.

I let the chakra dissipate and I fell from the branch. Shifting my weight I tucked myself into a backwards spin before landing on my feet. I stumbled backwards a bit, having not quite stuck the landing.

"We're going to need to work on your acrobatics." Azumi commented as she patted the ground next to her.

"Sure find more faults of mine." I grumbled as I sat down next to her in the shade of the tree, taking the boxed lunch and opening it up. Basic stuff honestly, some kind of noodle salad with rice and dango on the side. All that training had made me hungry though, so I dug in with gusto.

"Congrats on figuring out the tree climbing technique." She congratulated. "Though I can tell your kunai throwing needs some work." She added as I did my best impression of a chipmunk with food shoved into my mouth.

"Hey at least I can hit something!" I protested after swallowing the food. Azumi responded my pulling a kunai out of her holster and casually throwing it at the post I used for target practice, burying it in the wood. I glared at her grinning face, not amused. "Y'know you're making it reeeaaal hard for me to not flip you off."

Azumi chuckled. "I'll stop rubbing it in when you actually know how to do it." She stated, standing up and walking over to the post. "Until then, I'll always be here to knock you down a peg."

I downed the last bit of food, now feeling both miffed and insulted. She'd essentially just given me the ninja-world equivalent to the phrase "lol git gud scrub".

I placed the empty box on the ground beside me and stood up as Azumi unrolled the scroll that held the training weights. I raised an eyebrow. "Breaking that out a little early aren't we?" I asked.

"Change of plans for tonight." She said, summoning the roll of weights and unrolling it on the ground. "We're going to skip right to weight training. If you survive it, I've got a surprise for you." I groaned in response, not looking forward to having the equivalent of another person tied to my back. "What?" Azumi questioned, motioning for me to pick up the weights.

"Nothing, just I've had my fill of surprises for a while." I replied picking up one of the leg weights. At least I could lift them a little easier. Still felt like they weighed a ton.

"Trust me, this surprise is a good one." She responded as I strapped the leg weights on before moving to the arm weights, which were a bit harder to put on. Sure they weighed less and were smaller making them easier to manage, but you also had to manage them with one hand.

"Last time I trusted you, you punched me in the gut." I responded coolly. It was true, she had pretty much done that.

"Okay, point to you, but this time it's different." She said as stood back up from putting on the weights.

"I'll believe it when I see it." I said, mentally preparing myself for the ass-kicking that was coming as I channeled chakra into my arms.

The weight training had been more of the same, more laps followed by more push-ups, squats and sit-ups. Although this time around I got the distinct feeling that Azumi wasn't pushing me as hard as she had been. Normally when we run, she'd set the pace of it routinely running out ahead of me to force me to catch up.

This time though, she was letting me set the pace. That's to say nothing of the other parts of the workout. Normally she would increase the amount of reps I had to do for each one a small amount, not much, just enough so that I wouldn't be able to find it too easy. This time, no dice. Same amount of reps as before.

'If you survive it'? I was going to do fine, even if she did beat the ever loving shit out of me after during the sparring match.

Which brings us to the main event itself.

I now stood in the middle of the clearing a good ten feet from across from Azumi. She looked remarkably casual as she stood there, one hand on her hip, the other hanging loose at her side. I was tense with my arms and legs weighed down with the weights. I'd gotten stronger, yes, but they were still way too heavy for me to lift unassisted.

"Take 'em off." Azumi said suddenly, nodding in my direction.

"Take what off?" I asked, confused.

"The weights, take 'em off." Azumi said, motioning with her hand towards the weights.

I blinked, doing a double-take. Why would she want me to take them off? There wasn't a real reason that I could see. "Look if this is the surprise you talked about, so far it's a pretty lack-luster surprise." I said, now trying to undo the weight strapped to my arm.

"No that's later." She said. "Right now I want to see what you can do without those weights holding you down."

"To see how I'm improving?" I guessed, sitting down and pulling the leg weights off.

"Pretty much." She said. "It's more to gauge what you're ready for in the next phase of your training."

I got up, stretching out my limbs and getting them used to moving unrestricted. "Next phase huh?" I said. "What's that gonna entail? More of me being your personal punching bag?"

"Oh ha ha very funny." Azumi grumbled, letting her shoulders slump as he smile disappeared and was replaced by the look of the unimpressed. "Now come on, let's get this done."

"Okay okay." I said, bringing my fists up.

I tried to keep my stance as loose as I could, even if I did look like a boxer with the stance I took. One thing you learn quick when fighting ninjas, they liked to come into a fight at varying angles. It was less about brute power or impenetrable defense and more about surprise and speed. Tightening yourself up left openings in how you fought that they could exploit.

I'll admit, it felt a lot better to not have the weights holding me down, but I wasn't stupid in thinking that I could actually beat her in a stand-up fight. If I went in guns blazing I was going to get kicked to the ground faster than I could hope to say the word 'ow'.

Azumi apparently wasn't going to wait for me to make a move. She came in fast to the left, almost fast enough to be a blur, quickly closing the distance between myself and her. I brought my left arm up to deflect her strike, my arm taking the full force of the blow as I pushed her fist off to one side. She came in with her other arm, aiming a quick jab for my gut. My right arm came down to parry the strike before I tried to press the opening she'd presented. My left fist sailed for her jaw, but she jerked her head to one side and my strike flew harmlessly past.

Apparently my first mistake. Her knee connected to my stomach and sent me reeling back a couple steps. If it had been the first time I'd taken a blow like that, I'd have promptly puked up what lunch was still in my stomach. Instead I bit back the bile that threatened to spill out of my stomach and recovered my footing.

I managed to raise my arms up to block a kick to my head. Azumi, without missing a beat, pushed up with her other leg, flipping around to bring her heel down on my head. I pushed with my arms as I threw myself out of the way, her foot catching me in the shin as went down. I rolled to a crouching position before she was on me again. I hopped from foot to foot backward as I ducked, dodged and blocked, searching for another opening.

I found what I thought to be an opening as she brought her left hand back to deliver a straight punch to either my chest or stomach, her other arm indisposed as I'd deflected it off to the side. Her foot placement wouldn't make kneeing me in the gut or delivering a kicked to the head. I was open.

I came in as fast and hard as I could, coiling my arm back, pouring as much chakra into it as I could in the short time before launching my fist in like a rocket towards her chest.

The arm she'd pulled back shifted, instead coming in and wrapping itself around my forearm, pulling it to the side before her other arm connected with my ribs. Azumi had wanted to end this fight as next her shin hit the back of my leg, pulling it out from under me in a leg sweep. Her hand planted itself into my chest and I pitched backwards, my head slamming into the ground.

Instinctively my hands clutched at the back of my head as it throbbed from the impact, I winced as I rolled onto my side. "Owwww ow ow ow!" I whined. "Hurts like a bitch ow!"

"Get up and walk it off." Azumi sighed, lightly kicking the back of my leg. "You've already taken harder hits than that."

"That doesn't make it better!" I snapped as my hands let go of my head, earning me a scoff from Azumi. I'd done a better against her this time around, that I'll admit though. If I\d been wearing the weights I'd have been on the ground twice before this.

I rolled onto my back, now noticing that Azumi had moved off to gain some more distance between us. Time for round two I guess. I pushed myself back up, brushing myself off as Azumi just stood there watching me. Probably to find material to criticize me on later.

"Again." She said plainly as I dropped back into a combat stance. "This time you lead." After that last hit, I was a bit hesitant to oblige that last-minute request.

I sent chakra into my legs as I ran towards her, left arm brought back to deliver a punch to the side of her head. She deflected the blow handily, her free hand simultaneously delivering a counterblow. I blocked the strike, the shock of the impact travelling up my arm and into my shoulder. I tried give another left hook to her head. Again she blocked.

This time when she came for a counter blow I didn't have enough time to react before her fist rammed up into my chin. I staggered backward from surprise from the sudden hit. It was all the space she needed to deliver another strike to my sternum and sent me toppling over, though I had enough foresight to spin as I fell, landing so that my head didn't smash into the ground.

"Ugh." I groaned, more in frustration than pain this time around, sitting up on the grass.

"One more time." Azumi ordered.

"Can I just lie here for a sec?" I asked, flopping back down on my back staring up at the now reddening sky.

"No."

I sighed as I got back up, dust myself off and brought my fists up again. This time Azumi didn't wait for us to determine who would be the one to make the first move. She came in lightning fast, one fist screaming in towards my gut. I brought my arm down to block the strike and immediately I had another fist inbound from the right.

I brought my arm up to block it, realizing that she'd quickly turned the tables back on me. I'd wind up on the ground again in a few moments, I knew that much. I was getting sick of getting my ass kicked all the way to Sunday.

I stomped my foot down on her knee, knocking her off balance before coming in with my own punch to her ribs. She managed to block the punch, deflecting it with her forearm. I grabbed her arm, bringing my hand back from the fake-out punch, before launching my left foot up to deliver a kick to her head. Her free hand went up to block, and I kicked off with my other foot, planting it squarely in her stomach.

I was now in freefall, pitching back as I brought my left foot back and kicked at her face. She managed to block my foot from smashing down on her nose, but the force caused her to hammer her own forearm into her face.

I released my grip when my back hit the ground, rolling away before she could retaliate to get some distance. I jumped back to my feet as Azumi came in again for another strike. The fight would only end when one of us wound up on the ground.

I parried the strike to the right, wrapping my arm around hers to bind it under my armpit. She punched for my gut with her free hand and blocked as best I could, deflecting her strike off to the side. That's apparently what she wanted me to do as her hand grabbed my shirt just above my waist and pulled me in as her knee came up. My hand was already near enough that I could catch her knee with my hand, but it left my limbs tied up.

Though it would be a lot harder for her to balance on just one leg.

I reeled my head back. "AAAAAAH HEADSMASH!" I yelled as I slammed my forehead onto the bridge of her nose. The hit took her off guard and I saw my chance to drop her on her ass. I came in with a punch to her face, reeling my clenched fist back to deliver the final blow.

…I found myself on my back, staring up at the clouds.

"Almost had me, kid." Azumi said as she stood over me, hands on her hips and beaming me a wide smile. "The keyword being 'almost'."

I gave a light chuckle as I lay there, back throbbing from the hit. "Never did have a chance did I?" I asked, tired from the fight.

Azumi sat down next to me, legs crossed. "Don't beat yourself up so much." She reassured me. "You made a helluva lot more progress than I thought you would in two weeks."

"Thanks." I grumbled, sitting up. I rolled my shoulders to try to release some of the soreness from my joints and was met with snapping and popping noises.

"Hey think of it this way." Azumi said, still trying to raise my spirits a little. "You just had a fist fight with a Jonin and almost knocked her down. That says a lot about how far you've come."

"Or says a lot about you almost getting your ass kicked by a beginner…" I joked, returning her grin.

"Ohoho! The snark comes out again!" She said planting her hand on my shoulder and giving me a light shove. "I was starting to wonder where the little guy went! Only saw him once."

"If you wanted to see him more, you shoulda said something! He takes requests!" I laughed. We laughed actually, sitting on the grass as we shared witty banter back and forth for a good twenty minutes, delving into a few jokes that probably aren't suitable for someone of my age group. It's not like I didn't know about that stuff by now though, I'd been a purveyor of the internet for a long time before this.

"Okay, time to get back to business." Azumi stated finally, standing back up and dusting off her pants. "Time to officially kick off the next phase of your training."

I stood up and did the same. "Yeah and that being?" I asked. Azumi responded by running through a set of hand-signs so fast I could barely see her fingers moving before she inhaled. When she exhaled a jet of flame shot from her mouth, arcing into the air, expanding and forming a fireball that seemed to temporarily become a second sun.

I shielded my face with my arms against the heat of the flames as beat down on me with enough force to act as a hot breeze, whipping my hair back and for a second I was worried that it had caught on fire.

Azumi would give me a contented smirk as the flames dissipated. I was gawking, I knew that much. It was so much more impressive actually being there when jutsus went off.

"You going to keep staring or are we going to get down to teaching you Ninjutsu?" She finally asked, breaking me from my reverie.

I shook the last of my awe from my head. "Yeah, sorry…just…still trying to wrap my head around the fact that that was a thing." I admitted, shrugging and pointing up to where the jet of flame had been not too long ago. "So is that the one I'm going to learn or are we starting with something a little more basic?"

"Definitely basic." Azumi said with a chuckle. "The Fireball jutsu is just a _little_ beyond your skill level."

"Good, cause I don't wanna torch my own hand off." I stated, holding up one of my hands. "So what are we starting with?"

My next week had been spent running through hand-signs, learning which ones were which, what effects they were tied to, and how to chain them together in and input command, before eventually moving on to learning the Transformation Jutsu. Academy basics, that's what we were learning.

It was a lot harder than even Konohamaru's attempts to learn it had been in the series. Actually casting the jutsu wasn't really the hard part, it wasn't very intensive on chakra, and the control required was minimal once it was cast. However getting the disguises down was a bitch. We drilled with me turning into a copy of Azumi and my first attempts were…less than stellar. Can we say Flabzumi?

Luckily it wasn't the only thing we were doing. Azumi was trying to get me to figure out how to awaken my apparent Dojutsu, and I suspected that it was more to satisfy her own curiosity to figure out what they did. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit curious myself to find out what they would be good for. No dice on activating them yet, however and this had begun to serve as a source of frustration for me.

My training would have to be cut short however, as we left the town at the end of the week.

The bandits had officially moved on.


	11. Chapter 11: Lost

_Holy crap, I've been posting on this like crazy in the past few days. Tough unfortunately this is where it's going to have to end for a little while anyway. Things are coming up and I won't have time to update. Regardless I'd like to thank everyone who stuck with it so far, you guys are a large reason why I keep this going and not saying anything about it is kinda rude on my part. _

_I'm hoping you're enjoying the run so far, and hopefully I can keep giving you a fun ride during this. I can guarantee that there will be a few twists and turns that I think will keep you interested!_

_Stay tuned!_

* * *

It was a relatively calm morning as Azumi and I walked towards the next town, the early morning sun barely peeking out over the trees. I yawned as I struggled to wake up fully. Apparently the week had been taking its toll on me a little bit as I felt progressively more and more tired as the days went on. Regardless I made my best attempt at forcing chakra into my eyes to awaken my Dojutsu.

Again, no dice.

I sighed and shoved my hands into my pockets, keeping my eyes and ears open for any sign of the bandits. I figured that eventually Azumi would deem me ready to fight, and knowing how my luck tended to go, I'd be thrown into the thick of it.

Though one thing I'd come to the conclusion to this past week is that fundamentally, Azumi's mission made no sense. When she'd finally confirmed that she was a Jonin, it had called into question the nature of the bandits themselves.

Why would Azumi be having so much trouble with a pack of bandits? Jonin were supposed to be only just below ANBU in terms of skill at the very least right? Basically they were supposed to be the elite leaders of the village.

That let me with only two conclusions.

Either Azumi was lying about who she was, or these bandits were really crafty buggers. I don't know which possibility put me on edge more.

I pushed those thoughts to the back of my head and gave the Dojutsu another go. I poured Chakra into my eyes until they started to feel sore, but nothing came of it. Again. This was starting to get annoying as it was pretty much the first thing in my training that I could not make any progress in. Hell, even the Transformation Jutsu was showing improvement, however incremental it was.

"You've been quiet." Azumi commented suddenly from my left. She looked thoughtful, almost motherly as she said it. It was kind of strange, honestly. Most of the time I'd know her, she'd displayed the character of a stereotypical tomboy, the kind of girl who'd drink you under the table and make constant witty quips sprinkled with innuendos. "What's eating you?"

"Starting to think that your assessment of me having a Dojutsu might've been bullshit." I admitted. "I've been trying to get it going but so far nothing." I pulled my hands out of my pockets and shrugged. "It's just kind frustrating for me to be hitting a brick wall like this."

Azumi smirked and made a thoughtful noise. "Not used to that huh?"

I shrugged again. "Not really no." I said, eyes going down to the road. "My whole life I've been surrounded by some form of progress. I've kinda always been a go-person, if sit around too long without doing something I get antsy."

Azumi gave a light chuckle. "I used to be like that, myself."

"Used to?" I asked.

"Yeah, but then I made Jonin and I guess I internalized that it was enough for me." She explained. "That or I finally got old."

"How _did_ you make Jonin?" I pried, might as well try and figure out if she actually was a jonin or not. She turned and looked down the road, her face growing a little more solemn looking. Probably the wrong question to ask… might by bad memories attached to that if my knowledge of Naruto was anything to go by.

"Trade secret." She finally said, plastering another smile on her. Then she leaned in close to me and whispered: "But if you tell me your little secret, I'll tell you mine."

I cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean my secret?"

"You know." Azumi answered coyly.

"No I don't." I protested, not knowing what she meant.

"You're smart, you'll figure it out."

I grumbled and tried to mull over what she meant by "my little secret". Did she mean the story of how I'd escaped the facility? Or did she want everything as far back as it went?

Or had she figured out _what_ was and was just looking for confirmation?

Nah, I was pretty sure I had covered my tracks on that pretty well. Namely by not leaving any tracks of that type. It was probably having to do with the facility.

And I did not want to talk about that. Not yet.

So I bit down the urge to say something and went back to trying to activate the Dojutsu as I walked in silence alongside Azumi. We walked along until the sun raised high in the sky, beating down on us as we came upon the next town.

I guess the bandits hadn't had the chance to take the place over yet. People were out in force, mixking and mingling as they went about their business, perusing shops and engaging in friendly conversation. Azumi and I made our way through the town looking for a clue as to where the bandits were. She immediately took to asking shop owners and general passers-by if they'd seen or heard anything, most hadn't shaking their heads or shrugging while responding with a quick "Can't say I have" or "Nope, haven't seen anything".

That was until we found this one shop owner at a ladies clothing store. She was old, probably in her mid-fifties, with rapidly greying black hair wrinkles hugging the sides of her mouth and eyes. She was short, barely taller than myself, and clad in a dark green kimono. "Hello!" She greeted us cheerfully with a bow. "What can I get for you ladies?"

"Nothing today thank you." Azumi dismissed politely. " But I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

As Azumi and the woman entered into conversation I took it upon myself to browse the clothes racks in the store. Most of it was shirts, skirts, pants and the like in varying colors and styles arrayed with very little regard for organization beyond if it was a shirt or a pair of pants.

Eventually though my eyes zeroed in on a crimson red t-shirt. I pulled it off the rack and held it up so I could see it better. It was slightly big for me, but I think that it was supposed to be that way. It had oversized sleeves, almost like a kimono itself and a dropped v-neck that would go down to about the middle of my chest. I'd have to wear something underneath this if I were to wear it, like a tank top or another t-shirt.

"You want it?"

I jumped and spun around to find Azumi standing behind me, looking quite pleased with herself. "Relax kid!" She said, repressing a snicker at my expense. "Go ahead and take a minute to shop if you want, and meet me outside when you're done. Just make sure you can afford it before you buy."

I nodded and she turned and left the shop and I went back to browsing. I'll admit, shopping returned a sense of normalcy to me, like despite how different our worlds were this one thing remained constant between both. I picked out a few more articles that caught my interest and went to the back where the changing rooms were to try them on.

I emerged from the changing room and returned some of the articles of clothing to the rack and took the ones I liked to the front counter, put them on the counter, paid for them, then neatly folded them and put them into my bag before leaving the building to find Azumi standing outside.

We began walking towards the edge of town, and she didn't pause to talk to anyone. When I asked her why she wasn't looking for info she responded by saying: "Because I've already found a possible lead."

"And that lead being?" I inquired, my bag feeling ever so slightly heavier with the new clothes I'd bought. It was only then that I realized how tense I was after hearing she'd got a lead.

"The lady back at the shop has a husband who works at a nearby lumber mill. Yesterday he and his co-workers didn't come home and she's worried something happened to him." She explained. "If these are the bandits then we might have found the type of hideout we're looking for."

I could feel my heart try and jump out of my chest. "Am I coming with?" I asked, now very nervous.

"Yeah, you can handle a few bandits!" She said with a grin. "Besides, I'll be there to keep you out of trouble."

X

Azumi and I watched the lumber mill from the treeline, watching for any sign of movement. It was a large wooden building with two floors. On the top floor were two openings on either end where logs could go through and get cut into boards before being unloaded around the clearing in it. The ground floor probably housed the mechanism that ran the saws that cut wood. Another building sat next to it, which we assumed would be where the crew would take lunch breaks.

The place seemed vacant, and so Azumi and I made our way into the clearing, with me with my left hand gripping the sheath of my sword, holding at the ready in case things went ugly. Azumi on the other hand was markedly more relaxed it seemed as we walked over to the outbuilding. Azumi placed her hand on the door and slowly pushed it open, the hinges creaking with age and rust.

Inside it was dark, no lights were on, but there was enough light filtering in from the windows to determine that our initial assessment of this being a break build had been right, as large cafeteria tables and a meal service station took up a bulk of the building. I waited in the main room as Azumi jumped the counter and took a look through the back rooms.

This place was eerie with being how dark it was, kind of like it was haunted. Azumi came back through and reported there was nothing in the back rooms, but it had signs of a struggle in the back. That had not been good news for my nerves and I felt even more vulnerable as we exited the building and headed to the lumber mill itself.

I walked alongside Azumi to her left as we approached the main door to the lumber mill's ground floor. I almost instinctively rested my hand on the hilt of the sword at my side.

My ears perked up when I heard what sounded like a flag fluttering in the breeze above my head. I looked up and saw a man wearing some kind of coat, jumping out of the second floor window and brandishing a wide blade.

Azumi was quicker than I was, pushing me off to the side as the man landed on the ground, metal crashing against metal as she used a kunai to blow the blade he wielded. I rolled over and got some distance between them, drawing my sword as the door flew open and two more bandits ran out to meet her.

I heard feet thudding up towards me from behind and I whirled around to find another bandit running towards me, brandishing a polearm with a particularly nasty-looking blade on the end. I jumped to me feet and raised my blade to halt to the path of hit polearm, applying what I could from my hand-to-hand training to sword-fighting.

I shoved his weapon aside and planted my foot into his stomach to knock him off balance. With both of his hands on the polearm he couldn't effectively block and it gave me the space I needed to slash my blade along his thigh. He went down clutching at the new gash before my foot connected with his jaw and rendered him unconscious.

I looked back over at Azumi.

She had the situation under control, having taken on three bandits at once. Two of them were on the ground and the last one was on the defensive as she held a kunai in each hand. One of the bandits was getting back up, and the one who'd first engaged us was on his hands and knees, a kunai buried in his arm that he was trying to yank back out.

Azumi quickly dropped the one she'd been engaging and then quickly slammed her hand into the back of the head of the one getting back up. The last of them was dispatched with a swift kick to the jaw.

"Well, that was easy." Azumi commented nonchalantly.

I admit I agreed with her, it had been easy. I internally chastised myself for being so afraid of face the bandits. I'd made a lot more progress than I thought. "Yeah, I guess it-."

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Azumi was suddenly wrapping her arm around my stomach and carrying me out of the way of a massive gust of wind that erupted from the treeline and collapsed the side of the lumber mill. When she released her grip on me I turned my attention to where I expected the wind to have come from.

There stood a mountain of a man, clad head to toe in armored plates and cloth body armor. He looked like he stood a good seven feet tall and carried a huge sword on his back that looked like the unholy love-child of a meat-cleaver and a claymore.

"Well, well, well." He said, his voice deep and booming. "I leave to go do some shopping in town and I come home to find two little bitches snooping around my turf, beating up my men." He drew the sword from his back. "Not to mention one of them has been tailing me and my boys or the last month or so."

Azumi turned to me, her face not showing an ounce of humor. "Stay here." She commended. I nodded, holding my blade in front of me in case he decided to come after me.

Their battle was like watching lightning bolts dueling. Even the big man, who most would assume was slow, could keep up with her speed by using his armor and reach of his sword to play the fight defensively. They traded blows and Ninjutsu, Azumi holding a slight advantage as her use of Fire Style jutsu held and advantage over his use of Wind Style. Slowly but surely she was chipping away at him.

Still he was impressively matching her skill despite the shortcomings he faced. Every move Azumi made it seemed like he could read, and it was terrifying. I was not watching a fight between a Jonin and a common thug. I was watching two Jonin duke it out.

"Hey there ya brat." An all too familiar voice said from behind me. I turned around and gazed in horror over my shoulder.

Katana man was back.

"Glad to see you kept my sword." He said, nonchalantly twirling the one sword he had in his right hand as he stepped closer to me. "I'm going to be taking it back if you don't mind." He raised the katana and pointed at my head, his smile becoming increasingly malicious. "And I'm going to enjoy slicing off a couple of your limbs for good measure."

I shook my head and steeled myself. I knew how to fight now, and he didn't have any of his buddies to back him up this time. I could take him…probably.

He ran at me, gripping the sword with both hands as he swung in from the right. I raised my blade to block his, and the resounding crash of steel resonated through the clearing amidst the sounds of Azumi's bout with the armored man. I did my best to counter his blows, ducking and dodging as he swung at me, blocking what strikes I figured I could manage.

One thing I figured out quickly is that even with the training I received from Azumi, he was still much more skilled than I was. I now had new cuts on my arms and legs from glancing blows from his sword that I'd barely managed to block or dodge. He had me on the defensive, I had to turn the tables if I was going to survive.

He took another swing at me, upwards and to the left. I jumped back and let one of my hands fall away from the hilt and down to the kunai holster that was on my thigh. I unlatched the magnetic pin holding it closed and pulled out a kunai. I pitched underhand at close range, where even if my technique sucked I was pretty much guaranteed to hit him.

He tried to block, but at this range he couldn't move fast enough and soon found the six-inch diamond-shaped blade lodged in his hip. He yelled in a combination of both pain and rage as he staggered on his feet, a hand shooting down to grab the hilt of the kunai. I had my opportunity to take him down. I rushed in and tried to slash across his chest. He apparently was still effective enough to block the strike.

I'd now turned the tables, keeping him off balance as he tried to keep the weight off the leg on his injured side. I on the other hand could move largely unrestricted, and I pressed my advantage, strike at him with feigned blows until I could get an opening to finish him off.

He stumbled backward, his heel catching on a loose rock and he fell. I pounced on him, preparing knock him out with my heel.

As I brought my foot down I noticed the glint of metal off to the left. It was the armored man, on his knees, his cheeks puffed up, his hands together in a hand sign. He was staring right at me and I caught the last wispy trail as Azumi moved too fast to see. Time seemed to slow as the man released the chakra built up in his lungs and Azumi reappeared in front of me facing the armored man.

He'd been losing and he'd known it, she'd had him on the ropes. But he'd seen me, wide open and inviting as a target. A distraction. A chance to get an opening. A weak spot.

The two of us got hit with a gust of air, with Azumi taking the brunt of it. She slammed into me and we got thrown a good thirty feet into the treeline. Azumi landed on top of me, crushing the air out of my lungs as we skidded along the ground until my back impacted the trunk of a tree and we came to a halt.

I groaned as I tried to push myself out from under Azumi, the older woman groaning in pain as I squirmed under her back. "Azumi get up." I said urgently.

She tried moving, groaning in pain as she tried to roll off of me, clutching at her chest. She seemed to have trouble breathing as the armored man began to make his way over. Something was horribly wrong, Azumi's movements we sluggish, like very twitch hurt like getting stung by fire ants.

"Kid." Azumi croaked in pain. "My ribs…are shot." She coughed, giving a pained yelp. "I'll buy you…some time…just…get out…of here." My heart lurched, she could not be serious right now.

"No." I begged. "Nono. Nonononono! You have to get up!" I started to panic, I didn't want to leave her here. I didn't want to lose the only lifeline I had. She was the only person who I felt genuinely safe around, who'd offered to take me in a train me despite having no reason to do so. I couldn't leave, not if there was a chance to get her out of here.

"You… got to… get out… of here." She croaked out again, this time firmer. "I'm not… going to take… you down with me." I managed to squirm out from under her, and immediately lifted her left arm over my shoulder, trying to pull her to her feet. I felt like crying, I didn't want to leave.

I didn't want to be alone again.

"C'mon, get up!" I half-screamed at her. "I'll fucking carry you if I have to!"

"Kid… we won't make it…" She said as I pulled her to her feet, though I suspect that she did that more so she had a fighting chance to hold the approaching titan of steel plate. "You need… to run." The Armored Bandit weaved his hands together in another series of handsigns. Another jutsu to finish us off.

Azumi moved as fast as her injured body would let her, throwing us to the side as the focused gust of air demolished the trunk of the tree. I now found myself pinned to the ground under her.

"Listen… Akane…" She rasped, reaching up to the forehead protector tied around her head. He fingers wrapped around themselves around the metal plate and pulled it off her head. "Take this…to the Leaf… tell them…what happened." She held it to me and I absentmindedly took it from her hands. She gave another one of her smiles, pain plastered over her face. "…they'll…help you."

I shook my head, terrified at the prospect of leaving her behind and being alone again. "No!" I protested.

"Just GO!" Was her pained yell that set me into motion. I picked myself up as she staggered to her feet, legs pumping as I took off, hand grabbing onto the headband hard enough that it hurt. The clashing of metal and azumi's pained grunts of effort made me dare a look over my shoulder as she tried to fight off the huge man that now bore down on her.

I ducked behind a tree a fair distance away, panting as I peered around the trunk. Azumi fought as hard as she could, and part of me was hoping that she could beat him, that we'd limp back into town, heal up and head back to the leaf together. My vision blurred as I saw the larger man knock her off balance, grab her by her head and slam her head into a nearby tree.

She tried to push herself to her feet, blood now trickling from a newly opened gash on her forehead, using the tree to keep herself upright. The man's fist connected with her shattered ribs and she dropped to her knees, coughing and sputtering as two bandits that we'd supposedly knocked out showed up.

"Boss?" One of them asked, I couldn't make him out as my eyes welled over. "What happened to the second one? The kid?"

The armored bandit planted his boot on Azumi's back and pressed her into the ground. She made no sound as he crushed her chest into the ground. It hurt to watch it happen. I felt sick knowing that I couldn't do anything to help her, but at the same time felling like I should

"She's fled." He said finally. "Put out a serach order for that kid, bring her back alive. As for this one," He kicked Azumi in the side. "Bring her back into the mill, we'll find out who hired them to take us down."

I could only watch as they picked up a half-conscious Azumi and drag her back to the compound, tears streaming down my cheeks. I started running again as thunder rolled over the hills. I don't know how far I ran, sobbing as I went. I just wanted to run, to get away.

I don't know what hurt worse, the fact that I'd left her behind to let go knows what happen to her while I ran like a coward, or that she'd been put in that position trying to save me.

The rain began to fall as I came to a rocky outcropping, legs aching from how far and how fast I'd run. I crawled under it, seeking shelter from the now pouring rain as I brought my legs up to my chest. I felt pathetic as I sat there, sobbing uncontrollably.

Pathetic because I couldn't hold my own in a fight.

Pathetic because I'd run when I could've fought to save someone I cared about.

Pathetic because instead I'd abandoned them.

Pathetic because ran.

Pathetic because this was the second time I'd let someone I cared about slip away.

I sat there and cried. I cried as my grip tightened on her headband, the one thing I had left. I cried until the knot at the pit of my stomach turned to nausea and I coughed up what I'd had for breakfast. I cried until the rain stopped. I cried until I was tired.

Pathetic excuse for a ninja.

Pathetic excuse for a person.

Pathetic me.

I regained some sense of composure, choking back the tears as I wiped my eyes with my arm. I knew that by now bandits would be looking for me, I couldn't go back to the town. I knew that leaving to go to the Leaf would be the best course of action, I could get somewhere safe.

But I couldn't.

I wouldn't.

Not without Azumi.

Not without someone who cared.


	12. Chapter 12: Bad Plans Going Right

I sat in the same spot for, I think a couple days, debating with myself over what to do. A part of me, a _strong_ part of me, wanted to keep running away. To run to the Leaf, tell them what happened and then wash my hands of it and move on. To look out for myself. To survive.

But another strong part of me felt like I was betraying Azumi for even considering running. After everything she did for me, after every opportunity she essentially dropped into my lap, I was going to run away. It felt wrong, so terribly wrong that I felt sick to myself. I knew what was I should do, it was just a matter of convincing myself to realise it.

I wasn't going to leave.

Call me stupid if you want, but I was going to fight back and get Azumi out of there. I managed to find a small rocky cave not too far outside the town that overlooked a small lake. It was here that I bunkered down and trained myself, drilling myself in the Transformation Jutsu, the only jutsu I could realistically learn. For two weeks I drained myself and what funds I had left to perfect my technique in its casting.

But I wasn't doing this to simply go in gung-ho and try to chop up the bandits, especially since there was that one asshole who could cast wind jutsu and match a Jonin in combat. So I came up with a rather hastily thrown together plan, but to pull it off I'd need to find someone.

I'd begun tracking down Katana Man.

Now wrapped in a hooded cloak I'd bought from a local store owner I began questioning the locals if they had any leads for where he'd be. I got very little, but considering our luck in tailing the bandits this past month it was something I had come to expect. So I kept at it, and a few days into my search I got a lead. An old man had told me that he frequented a local tavern at night drink and to have a good time.

This is where I now found myself, sitting in an alley outside that very same tavern where I was regaled with the sounds of people drunkenly laughing and clinking dishes. I was tired, having been up since the early morning, once again having difficulty sleeping. I had a prime spot where I could see Katana Man through the windows. I was studying him, trying to get a handle on how he acted, I needed to do this for my plan to work.

Most of you more perceptive folks would probably be able to guess as to what my plan was, and I'll admit it wasn't exactly something out of The Art of War. Basically I was going to take out Katana Man, disguise myself as him, sneak into the lumber mill, grab Azumi and get out. Simple as that, but here's the problem, if I got caught I was fucked, I had no real back up plan.

It was going to be do or die.

I don't know how long I sat there, but it was long enough for my eyes to start getting heavy and I risked passing out in the alley. If I got too close to slipping off I'd have to call it a night and try again. Luckily for me, that was not going to be the case.

Katana Man exited the tavern, saying his goodbyes to the two 'lovely ladies' he'd spent the night with, or at least that's what he called them. To me they looked like a couple of hookers with way too much time on their hands if they were trying to make a move on a man who looked girlier than me. Then again I'd just gone two weeks without a shower so I don't exactly know if it was a fair assessment.

I got up and followed him down the road, shadowing him as he walked out of the village in the direction of the lumber mill. He was drunk, that much was clear from the way he stumbled from side to side ever so slightly as he walked. Unless he was some sort of drunken sword master I now held the advantage. Though a sobering thought crossed my mind just as I made that assessment.

I was going to have to kill him if I didn't want to run the risk of him showing up back at the lumber mill.

I mean he'd given me plenty reason too, what with his trying to mug me earlier and his contributing to Azumi getting captured, but it was still me sticking a knife in someone and twisting until they stopped twitching, and it wasn't like I could use self defense as something to smooth over my conscience either since I was _deliberately_ setting out to kill this man.

I felt like I was going to puke.

I bit back the urge and quickened my pace so I could catch up. I wanted to close the distance and drop him with a kunai to the back. Hopefully I was going to be able to finish him off and execute phase two of the plan without drawing myself into a fight.

I'd closed the distance enough to where I felt like I could hit him. I reached down, pulled out a kunai with my right hand, parted the folds of the cloak with my left, and whipped the blade at him.

He staggered a bit as he rotated to the right, drawing his blade up and blocked the kunai, the ting of metal ringing out as the kunai glanced off the flat of his katana. I worked quickly, undoing the clasp of my cloak and throwing it away as I drew my own sword, hoping to keep him off balance. If any of his buddies were around, they would hear us fighting and rush to help him. The worst case scenario had just begun.

I drew the sword back in a quick stab towards his center, trying to finish him quickly in case any of his friends showed up. He parried the strike and quickly moved into an upward swing and I swear I felt the tip of his sword graze my chin as I pulled my head back to dodge the strike. I quickly swung the sword across, taking advantage of the fact that his sword was up high, I felt the blade dig into his side.

He seemed to freeze in place in shock and surprise, looking down as blood welled up and began to trickle down the blade of my sword to the handguard. "Well shit." He muttered. Before I saw him switch his grip to bring the blade down on my head. I pulled myself to the right, dragging the sword across his stomach. He collapsed on the ground, lying face down in an expanding pool of blood. "Well, shit." I muttered again.

My stomach churned at the sight of a man lying dying on the ground. I swear I could smell stomach acid, his stomach being cut open. It was enough to make me hurl, on my hands and knees, coughing and sputtering. I guess I hadn't hardened myself to death as I'd thought.

I got up off my knees and set to work, rolling Katana Man over while making sure to not look down at this stomach. I needed something to work off of if I wanted to make it work.

I pulled out a mirror and ran through the handseals for the Transformation Jutsu. For a few moments I was enveloped in a curtain of smoke and I could feel my body change its shape, growing taller, and my shoulders growing broader. When the smoke cleared I consulted the mirror, comparing my new face to the face of the dead man on the ground. Disguise successful.

I wound up throwing the dead man into a nearby ditch that was covered in bushes, taking care to not get any blood on my new disguise, I didn't want to waste chakra on a second casting if I could help it, and then set off towards the lumber mill. My nerves were working overtime, my body shaking as I fought every urge I had to _run_.

I found the lumber yard, the lights on inside the mill itself and I could see movement inside. Outside were the four underling bandits that had jumped us in our first engagement, meaning that the movement inside was the Jonin bandit. I took a breath to calm myself and made my way into the clearing.

"Damn, Takeshi!" One of the bandits said, spotting me. "You sure too your sweet ass time getting back here." I steeled myself as I thought up a response. For some reason, knowing the man's name made the guilt worse.

"Got held up." I responded, trying my best to sound inebriated. "The ladies in town are party animals!"

The bandit scoffed. "Yeah well. Best sleep off that sake man, the boss won't like seeing you like that."

"Right, just gonna be a second." I said, "Gonna check up on our guest."

"You sure? Boss is in there." He said. "Besides, you tried before, and she ain't talking."

I gave him a smirk. "Oh trust me, I think I've got something that could get her to talk." The bandit shrugged and motioned at the door.

"She's all yours, just gotta get the boss out of there."

I pushed past them and walked through the door. Inside I could see the mechanism that operated the sawmill, lifeless and unmoving, having been shut down once the bandits took over. I could hear the voice of the Armored Man talking to Azumi, but I couldn't make out what he was saying through the floorboards. I made my way over to the stairs and climbed up to second floor, and there I saw Azumi being stared down by the giant man clad in armor.

She was beat up, even more than when I last saw her. She'd been stripped down to nothing but her pants and bra, hands bound together and suspended by a rope attached to a roof. Her face was half covered in dried blood that caked the bangs of her hair together into messy spikes. Her stomach and arms were covered in bruises and cuts, and blood had dried and hardened on her left leg. My heart lurched at the sight of it.

"What are you doing here Takeshi?" The Armored Man asked, clearly in a bad mood.

"Just checking up." I said with a shrug. "Mind if I get a few minutes with her?"

He huffed and walked over to me, planting a hand on my shoulder. "You get five minutes, after that you get some kit and sleep off that booze." He said, lifting the hand from my shoulder and stepping down the stairs. I waited by the stairwell, taking an intense but tired glare from Azumi as I waited for the Boss to exit the building. I only relaxed when I heard the sound of the door closing.

I immediately walked over to Azumi, drawing my sword to cut her down. "So that's your plan?" She spat, forcing the words out through the pain her ribs were probably experiencing. "Couldn't get anything out of me so you're just gonna drop me?" I pressed a finger to my lips, and undid the jutsu to get Azumi to trust me. Her eyes widened. "Kid?"

"Yeah it's me, I'm getting you out of here." I said, taking a swing at the rope. The katana glanced off, barely cutting the rope. So much for the movies. "Might want to get ready to catch yourself." I warned, now using the katana as a makeshift saw as I stood on my tip toes to trying and cut the rope.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She whispered. "I told you to get to the Leaf!"

"Yeah well, I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to pay you back." I said, trying to avoid admitting how guilty I felt at running the first time.

"Kid, just go on, get out of here!" She ordered. "There's no way you're getting me out of here undetected!" I ignored her and kept hacking at the rope, I was not going to have this argument if I wanted to get out of here without getting caught. "Kid seriously, go! Now!"

"Not without you." I stated flatly.

"Kid, get g-." I didn't catch the last of it, getting hit from the side by a heavy weight which slammed into my shoulder. I was thrown to the side, falling hard on the floor and skidding a good four feet from the force of the blow.

I rolled onto my back and stared back at my assailant and my heart sank when I saw the Armored Bandit standing over me. "Figured you weren't Takeshi." He stated flatly. "Didn't remember the hilt of his sword being red." I scrambled to my feet and held my sword out in front of me in self-defence, ready to fight him off if I had to. I wasn't going to win, that was true, but I wasn't going to leave again. Not a chance. He stood there, blocking me from both Azumi and the stairs, obviously waiting for me to attack him. I took a tentative step backward, hoping to bait him into attacking me.

When he moved I completely lost sight of him before I felt something knock the sword to the side and plant itself around my neck. I felt my feet leave the ground as he lifted me up by the throat and I wrapped my hand around his wrist, squeezing with the vain hope that he'd let go. "Too bad for you kid, should've worked harder on your disguise." He said as he started to tighten his grip and I started to find it difficult to breathe.

I tried kicking him in the chest in desperation as my lungs began screaming for air. I desperately swung the sword at his head and he blocked it with his armored forearm, pushing it away as tears started to well up in my eyes. It actually hurt, which was surprising considering I'd never been choked out before. "Good thing you're still of use to me." He said before turning and throwing me to the floor.

I landed on my stomach, pushing myself up as I coughed and sputtered, my lungs desperate to suck in air. I felt his boot plant itself into the small of my back and he pushed me so that I was face-down on the floor. I tried to push up against him, but he was heavy enough that I couldn't move. "So this is the way it's going to work." He said, addressing Azumi. "You tell me what I want to know, or this kid gets it. Understand?"

Azumi took one look at me before turning her attention back to him. "You expect me to buy that?" She stated flatly, no emotion in her voice. "You're just going to wind up killing her anyway." My heart lurched, finally realizing how badly I'd fucked up. Yeah, almost two months ago I probably would've welcomed death with open arms, but now I was terrified of it. I wanted to cry again, but I think I was so paralyzed from fear to do that.

"True." He said. "But if you tell me…" He reached down and grabbed my right arm, my sword still held in my hand, before planting his other foot down on my upper arm. Holding onto my wrist he pulled back.

I felt my elbow crack and separate, my forearm now only attached to the rest of me by muscle and flesh as it was now bent ninety degrees in the wrong direction. I screamed in pain and shock, tears finally spilling over as he let go and my arm dropped to the floor, my hand going limp as I heard the sound of the sword bouncing on the ground.

I don't know what was said between them after that. I was in so much pain as I lay trapped under his foot. It was excruciating, and it was almost like the agony in my elbow travelled up my arm and into my chest. It hurt to breathe as I whimpered when I could feel him exchange feet and bend down to pull my other arm out so he could do the same thing. I tried desperately to shake his grip, panicking, I didn't want this again.

Please no! Not again! I don't want two broken arms!

I felt his weight fall off of me as a bare foot slammed onto the ground next to my head. Someone had tackled him off and onto the floor behind me. I tried rolling over to get a look at what happened, only to yelp as a sharp lance of pain shot up my arm as I shifted. I bit back the pain and looked behind me to see Azumi on top of him, hands still bound, having one of his hands in her grasp as she head butted him over and over, keeping him pinned to the floor.

She wasn't going to be able to keep him occupied for long in her state, and I wanted to live god dammit! I rolled over, wincing, bringing my right leg up so that I could reach my kunai holster with my left hand. Pulling out a kunai I stumbled to my feet and turned to face them. I could barely make out through my blurry vision that he'd managed to throw Azumi off who was now lying foetal position on her side as he kicked her repeatedly in the ribs.

I don't know what I was thinking, I didn't have a plan, and I wasn't really thinking of Azumi anymore. _I_ wanted to survive, and if it meant killing him then by whatever higher power you believe in I was going to drop this armored fuck.

I ran at him, jumping onto his back and digging the kunai into a gap in his armor on his shoulder. He roared and clamped his hand down on my hand, trying to pull the knife out as he tried to shake me off. I somehow managed to get my broken arm over his shoulder and wrapped my fingers around the edge of his breastplate, holding on as best I could.

Having the room she needed, Azumi had gotten back up and again tackled him into the wall, pinning me between him and the planks and my lungs emptied. Now here's the weird position we found ourselves in. He was now focused on Azumi, trying to get her off, but I was now pinned between the wall and him and didn't need to hold on. I pulled the kunai from his shoulder and stabbed it into the side of his neck. He roared again and threw Azumi to the side and lifted himself from the wall and I hit the ground.

Very pissed off, he pulled me off the ground by my collar and planted me against the wall, wrapping his fingers around my neck, two thumbs pressing into my throat and interrupting the flow of air to my lungs. "You…fucking little…bitch!" He gurgled, the kunai in his neck having punched into his wind pipe. He was now drowning in his own blood, but was determined to take us both with him.

Azumi came in again, now holding my sword in both hands and swinging it for a weak spot in his armor. I could hear the blade snap as it dug into the gap, leaving him with a 20 inch piece of steel lodged into his side. He released his grip on me and turned to deliver a punch to Azumi. I don't know what happened, but Azumi had pulled my kunai out of his neck and had wound up stabbing him in the stomach. They stood like that for a few moments before he tipped over and fell dead on the floor.

Azumi quickly walked over to me and kneeled down in front of me, spinning the kunai around so that she held it by the blade and held it out to me. "Hold this." She ordered. I grabbed it and she immediately began sawing at the bindings around her wrists.

We could hear the thudding of feet on the stairs as she finally sawed through her bindings. "Get ready kid." She wheezed, running through a set of hand signs and inhaling as much as her damaged ribs would let her. When the first bandit got up the steps he was greeted by a wall of flames. I heard him scream and he tumbled backwards down the steps as the stairwell was lit on fire. She grabbed me by the waist and I yelped when my busted arm shifted.

The last thing I remember was us smashing through a window before we wound up among the trees and bushes, moving at such speed I thought we were going supersonic. We landed in a small clearing and collapsed, Azumi struggling to breathe properly after all the excitement and me being barely able to move with the pain in my arm. We sat there for a few moments to rest before Azumi pushed herself to her feet.

"C'mon kid, get up." She said, pulling me to my feet. I hissed as I bit back a scream of pain as I stood up. We wound up leaning on each other to stay standing as we trudged back to the village, both of us in too much pain to stay standing for long on our own. "The hell were you thinking?" Azumi asked me, grunting with every step.

I felt so tired after all that. "I don't know." I replied. "I just didn't want to abandon anyone else again."

"If you'd gone to the Leaf they would've sent a retrieval team." She pointed out.

"Would you have been alive by then?" I countered.

She was silent for a bit mulling over her answer. "I don't know." She admitted.

"Exact-" I fumbled with the word. "Exactly." I was so god damn tired now, my arm had gone numb.

Azumi suddenly stumbled forward and fell flat on her chest. She let out an agonize scream and I swear I heard her ribs cracking as they scraped against each other. I dropped down and with y good arm rolled her over onto her back so that she could breathe. A pained look was plastered over her face now and she was definitely having a hard time breathing.

"Azumi! Come on get up! We need to keep going!" I said frantically, clutching onto my broken arm as I kneeled next to the Jonin. Azumi tried to sit up, but the pain was obviously too much for her now and she just flopped back down onto her back mumbling about how she could barely move now. That fall had probably dislocated her broken ribs.

I looked around frantically, I needed to get her out of here, but with only one good arm and a woman with a broken set of ribs I wasn't going to be able to drag her back to the village without accidentally suffocating her. I needed some kind of plan to bring her back.

Then I spied a half of a hollowed out log lying next to the path we'd been travelling along, barely visible in the low light. It looked big enough for me to put Azumi in and it might make it possible to drag her back to the village.

"I'm gonna help you over to that log over there, okay?" I said, trying to explain it to her as calmly as I could while I pointed at it with my good hand. "I'm gonna drag you back in that."

She just nodded and took a deep breath as I hooked my good right shoulder under on of hers and pulled her up to a standing position. It was awkward to hold up someone much bigger than yourself, especially when they could barely move from pain and lack of air.

I eventually got her to the log and laid her down inside, it was barely wide enough for her shoulders, and her feet were going to be dragging on the ground the whole way, but at least that way I wouldn't have to wrap my arm around her chest and drag her that way.

I gripped onto the side of the log and started to pull but the weight of both it and the woman inside was enough to anchor it in place. My fingers slipped off the half rotten wood and bark, stinging as splinters buried themselves in my flesh. I winced and cursed under my breath before grabbing it again and pulling.

This time I had chakra working for me, gluing my fingers to the wood and my feet to the ground to give myself traction, my leg muscles burning as I sent bolstered their strength with every ounce of energy I could muster.

The log was moving, dragging along the ground as I pulled. Grunts of both effort and pain escaped my lis with every agonisingly slow step. My broken arm dangled uselessly at my side, every step causing the broken and separated bones in my elbow to rub and grind against each other. I could feel the tears streaming down my face as I walked but I fought the urge to break down and bawl my eyes out so that I could get Azumi and me somewhere slightly safer. Crying could come later, I had a god damn job to do.

I could see the lights of the outskirts of the town come into view through the foliage and I couldn't help but sigh in relief at the sight. It was enough to give me a second wind of sorts, my legs moving faster as I rushed to get her into the town and to someone who could hopefully help her.

It was almost amusing to think of how the roles had reversed. Not too long ago, Azumi had saved my sorry ass from getting killed. Now it was me saving her. "We're almost there." I said to Azumi, though mainly it was to reassure myself.

I came to the edge of the town, most of the lights having been snuffed out as people had turned in for the night by now. There had to be someone out and about that could help, and I wasn't about to give up until I got Azumi medical attention.

I dragged the log through the empty streets, searching for someone, _anyone,_ who could help. Along one of the roads was a tavern, not the same one that I'd followed Katana Man from, that had a beautiful woman standing outside the door, wearing a very revealing kimono-style dress that went down to her mid-thigh. I wanted to wave to her but my only free arm was broken, and I wasn't going to let go of the log. I honestly didn't want to stop dragging the damn thing, I guess that I was afraid that Azumi would disappear if I did.

Thankfully she spotted us and even from this distance I could see her eyes visibly widen at the sight of me dragging an unconscious woman in a hollowed out log. She ducked inside the store and I wanted to scream at her not to go, to not ignore us, to help. I only managed a small croak, as the exhaustion finally set in. I dropped to my knees, letting go of the log as I sat on my heels.

I felt a bit betrayed honestly, that the one person I'd seen that could help had run away on sight of us.

But she hadn't run away. She'd gotten help.

I saw her run back out of the tavern, followed closely by a man in a sharp business suit who I assumed was the manager and another girl in the same dress. I couldn't help but smile tiredly at them as they ran up, just happy to know I hadn't failed.

"Are you okay?" The first girl asked, worry plastered over her face.

I just pointed over my shoulder at Azumi. "Her ribs are broken, she needs a doctor." I stated flatly. The manager ran directly for the log.

"I'll get her!" He said. "Maya, go find Matsuhiro, get him down here now!" He barked orders as he scooped Azumi into his arms and began to carry her back to the tavern. "Natsumi, get her inside!" He nodded to me as he jogged past.

The first girl, Natsumi bent down to help me up as the second girl turned on her heels and ran into the streets to find someone to help. I yelped in pain as Natsumi mistakenly grabbed my broken arm. "Broken! BROKEN!" I screamed when she didn't let go at first.

"Oh my gosh! I'm sorry!" She exclaimed, switching to my other arm and pulled me up, letting me lean on her as she walked me into the building. Inside was honestly what I expected, there were a few tables and booths scattered inside. Two more girls were inside, wearing the dress that I came to realise was the uniform of this place, one was behind the bar at the back, the other had been sitting with a male patron.

To the man's credit he didn't just continue to ogle his "date" when the manager entered the building, instead shooting up and practically climbing over the table to help. "You two!" The manager barked as he and the patron set Azumi down on an empty table. "Get us some water and some blankets! Hurry!" The two girls ran into the back rooms to get what they needed.

Natsumi instead sat me down in one of the booths, taking special care not to mess too much with my broken arm. Didn't keep me from wincing in pain as it shifted. "How bad?" She asked, pointing to the arm.

"Bones in my elbow are separated." I replied, voice cracking with fatigue and pain. "I don't know how bad."

"Okay." She said, giving me a reassuring smile. "Just sit tight, we're going to get you and your friend some help." She got up and went to help her colleagues in the back rooms get the things they were going to need.

I didin't blame them for trying to take care of Azumi first and foremost, honestly I would have been angry if they weren't but I was relieved when one of the girls came over with a glass of water, pain medication and an ice pack for my arm. It helped a lot to keep the pain down as I watched them scramble around trying to keep Azumi from passing out.

Eventually the doctor arrived with the other girl and immediately set to work on Azumi. He was an older man, probably in his late forties or early fifties, his head shaved bald leaving just the brown hair on his chin to give me any indication of his hair color. He, the manager and the patron got to work healing Azumi's injuries, the two other men basically acting like assistants.

I couldn't quite see from here, but I saw him lift a huge bubble of water with his chakra and push it into Azumi's chest as he set to work placing his green glowing hand over her ribs. To me it looked like he was using the water to hold the ribs in place as he healed each individual rib one by one. As he worked though I could tell that she was beginning to breathe a little easier. It still hurt to watch, so I stopped looking as he continued to work.

"You holding up okay?" Natsumi asked suddenly, breaking me from my reverie. She'd come back to check on me and make sure I was doing okay.

"Yeah." I replied. "Pain meds are helping."

"I think the doctor's almost finished up with your friend." Natsumi informed. "He says he's going to come over here to look at your arm when he's done."

I nodded slowly. "Okay." I admit, I was afraid of actually letting him look at my arm. I didn't want it to hurt more. Still I figured that it'd be better off with some pain now to avoid the arm healing all wrong later.

"You sure you're alright?" Natsumi asked, this time visibly more concerned. "What happened to you guys?"

I was honestly just considering saying 'I don't feel like talking about it" but I knew that they'd find out from Azumi, who might not be so quick to dismiss the question. "We were tailing some bandits that made camp in a lumber mill." I began. "But it went wrong and I screwed up…I got Azumi hurt…" I looked down at my busted arm as it rested in my lap, being cradled by my good hand as I held the ice pack to the elbow.

"Okay, I'm…sorry I asked." She said apologetically, placing a hand on my shoulder. "But hey you got her out of there! That's gotta count for something!" She gave me another smile, trying her best to put a positive swing on things to cheer me up.

"I guess…" I didn't feel very positive. She wasn't there, she didn't know the whole story. I did, and I couldn't help that a lot of what happened had all been my fault. Like it was me who broke Azumi's ribs, not the bandit leader.

"Hey cheer up!" She said, still smiling. "Your friend is going to be okay." I said nothing, having no idea what to say. I was drawing a blank and I honestly just wanted to go to sleep right about now. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Just water please." Natsumi nodded and left to go get some water for me. I turned back to the doc as he worked on Azumi's ribs and now I noticed how she was talking to him and the other two men hanging around. It was kind of scary how casually she seemed to be speaking to them even while she was getting her ribs set. I could still see how tired she was though after two weeks of dealing with fractured ribs and torture.

Natsumi came back with a glass of water and handed it to me. I thanked her as I took the glass and took a sip, placing the glass on the table as I saw the doc get up and turn to me. Here we go. Natsumi was going to leave when the doc stopped her and asked her to stay and help him with me.

I knew that I looked nervous about it since he smiled reassuringly as he kneeled down in front of me. "Hey there, I'm Matsuhiro Fujita. Your friend is going to be okay, but I want to take a look at you to be safe."

"Akane Mori." I said introducing myself. "And my elbow is broken."

He nodded, his face becoming more serious. He reached for my arm. "I'm just going to check it out so I'm going to have to move it." He stated taking my wrist in left hand and slipped his other under my elbow.

I hissed through clenched teeth as the bones shifted. The pain didn't stop as he began to massage the elbow, his hand glowing green as he did. His brow was furrowed, almost looking like he was concerned about something, and that was making me more scared than anything.

"Well good news." He said, smiling and slowly placing my arm down on my lap. "It's not broken, only dislocated." I let out a slight sigh of relief, at least it wasn't anything too serious like a permanently disfigured arm or needing an amputation.

"But…here's the bad news." He said, making my heart sink somewhat. "I'm gonna have to set it so…"

"It's gonna hurt like a bitch." I finished for him, earning a slight chuckle from him.

"Yeah, yeah it will." He said before turning to Natsumi. "I'm gonna need you to hold onto her so she doesn't move too much."

"Got it." Natsumi said, coming around the table and sitting next to me in the booth. I let her grab my legs and hold them in place as her arm wrapped around my stomach. I was now being restrained, and honestly I wasn't about to struggle any, not if I wanted my arm fixed.

I winced as he grabbed my arm and straightened it out, one hand on my upper arm, the other gripping tightly to my lower arm. "Okay, here we go." He warned, preparing to push my forearm back into place. I bit my lip as I anticipated the coming agony.

I soon found myself betting squeezed by Natsumi as my body involuntarily tried to twist away as I felt my elbow crack back into place. I now I screamed in pain, I didn't need anyone to confirm it. I heard the shrill sound as my vocal chords strained.

My elbow throbbed even after it was over, though I felt Matsuhiro's hand resting on it as a tingling feeling began to invade the joint. I opened my eyes not having realised I had shut them to find his hand glowing green as it slowly ran up down and around my elbow. He was healing the arm up as best he could, probably repairing any damaged tendons or pulled muscles if I had to guess.

"Okay, your arm is going to heal up okay." He said as the pain started to numb. "I'm just going to wrap it up to hold it straight." He reached down and pull out a bandage roll and began to wrap it around my arm from my mid-forearm to my mid bicep. It was going to restrict my movement in the arm but I had no plans on moving it if I didn't need to. It was going to be sore for a long time.

"Alright, we're done if there's nothing else you want to bring up." He said as he packed up his stuff.

"Nah, that's it." I replied, shaking my head and cradling my newly healed arm. He nodded and walked off to talk to the manager of the tavern. I noticed Azumi had gotten up off the table and was now sitting in a chair with a blanket around her shoulders, head back as she stared up at the ceiling.

"You doing alright?" Natsumi asked now behind me. I hadn't noticed but I had dropped my legs out of the side of the booth and had started leaning back into Natsumi.

I sat back up. "Sorry, I guess I'm tired." I apologized, trying to shake off my fatigue as best I could. It was a fight I was rapidly losing, and I could feel my eyes struggling to stay open. Hell the yawn that managed to force its way out of my lips just gave me more proof of that.

"If you want to use my shoulder as a pillow, go right ahead." She said, offering to let me sleep on her shoulder. I'll admit it was a tempting offer, but I didn't want to fall asleep on a complete stranger, no matter how nice she was being to me right now.

I just wound up leaning against the back rest of the booth, trying my best to stay awake but I wound up nodding off before waking up when I felt myself falling backwards of forwards. I felt a hand gab onto my arm and ease me back until I was lying next to Natsumi's chest. My batteries were dead, I knew I was going to fall asleep eventually.

I didn't protest or struggle, only closing my eyes and finally falling asleep.


	13. ANNOUNCEMENT

_Okay so I guess this is a sort of message about the story here, one that I've been putting off for a good while now as I mulled it over._

_Lately I've been running into a bit of a tic when it comes to writing Improbability where every time I've tried to write the next chapter I've started looking back upon earlier chapters and thought about either missed opportunities or just said to myself "what the hell were you thinking?"_

_Some of the most glaring examples of these moments was where I gave ninjas in the Facility _assault rifles_ and the fact that I overlooked the frickin' gloriously awesome idea of a language barrier where Alex doesn't actually Japanese. I mean hello! Stick her in the Japanese version of Naruto and have her try and figure it out!_

_My point is, I feel I could improve upon what's here already, to go into this with a better and more focused story where things are taken more slowly and allow you guys to actually learn about the characters a bit more and how they are._

_I'm ostensibly saying that I'm going to reboot this story and build on what's already here and hopefully make something that's of a little higher quality. I mean I'm also going to be going for a bit of a more consistently darker tone than I did and one where the characters emotional progression makes a bit more sense._

_Thank you guys for sticking with the story 'til now and I hope you join me again for the new run that should be out soon enough. Hopefully I can deliver on my promise._


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